
* JicJ 



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3 






METHODS 



Teaching Patriotism 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



BEING AN EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
TEACHERS OF THE 



CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY 



CITY OF NEW YORK, 

COLONEL GEO^VT'bALCH, 

Auditor of the Board of Education of the City of New York, 
June 28, 1889. 



NEW YORK: 

D. Van Nostrand Company, 23 Murray Street. 

1890. 



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jt 

l® <$ ]l 



Copyright, 1890, 
by GEORGE T. BALCH. 



PRESS OF DE LEEUW & OPPENHEIMER, 
231 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. 




To 



J. EDWARD SIMMONS, LL.D., 

President of the Board of Edtication 
of the 
City of New York, 
who, of its many presiding officers, first sug- 
gested and earnestly advocated special attention to instruction 
in Patriotism, as an integral part of the curriculum 
of its Public Schools, 
this review of the best methods of 
teaching patriotism in those schools, is 

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE. 



If we would seek to ascertain the true sources of 
those dominant moral and intellectual influences, 
which are destined to sway most potentially and 
determine the character of this nation, during 
the next thirty years of its history — in the dawn 
and morning of the twentieth century — as well 
those which tend to hasten its degeneration or 
decay, as those which shall foster and promote its 
greatness and augment its political strength and 
power, we must go — not to its legislative halls, not 
to its courts of law, not to its great centers of manu- 
facture or commerce, not to its collections of art 
treasures, not to its conventions of political parties , 
nor to its churches, but to its schools, and there 
study and learn how five hundred and fifty thou- 
sand teachers* are to-day molding, shaping and 
directing the physical, moral and mental habits, 
and slowly building up and forming the characters 
of fifteen millions of the children of freemen, to fit 
them in manhood and womanhood for their duties 

* I estimate the number of teachers in the public schools of 

the United States, in 1890-1891, at 450,000 

And those in the private schools at 100,00a 

Aggregate 550,000 



VI 



and obligations as American citizens, in the grand 
onward march and progress of this people along 
the highway of the centuries. 

A patient and conscientious investigation of the 
nature and constitution of these influences, extend- 
ing over a period of several years, has forced me, 
most reluctantly, to the conclusion, that while as a 
people we are with reason proud of our past, and 
are justified in being filled with glowing anticipa- 
tions of our future, we have not sufficiently heeded 
the teachings of history, and have failed in the 
past, and are too generally failing to-day, to famil- 
iarize the rising generation with those great politi- 
cal and moral axioms and principles upon which 
this government was founded, in theory at least, and 
only by a strict observance of which in our public 
conduct and deportment can we ever reasonably 
hope to maintain in their integrity, those inestim- 
able and priceless blessings of liberty of thought, 
of speech, and of action which we have inherited 
from the founders of this Republic. 

Through the effects of a growth and an abun- 
dance of material wealth, such as no people recorded 
in history has ever experienced or acquired in so 
hrief a period of time, a phenomenon due to causes 
easily analyzed and traced, we have forgotten too 
often in the past, and are to-day still tempted to 
forget, the real sources of our greatness, of our ex- 
ceptional prosperity, and of our political and relig- 
ious freedom ; and have neglected in the education 
of our children to emphasize those principles — em- 



Vll 



bedded though they are in the constitution of every 
State as well as in that of the Union — in the strict 
and sacred observance of, and adhesion to which, 
lies all our future progress, our political safety, 
our honor and true greatness as a nation. 

It has been my endeavor to point out in the 
address, of which the chapter here presented forms 
a portion, this radical defect in the curriculum of 
our schools, both private and public, and to offer 
for the consideration of all true lovers of their 
country, but particularly of the great body of its 
teachers, a practicable plan by which, as it appears 
to me, this defect can not only be effectually rem- 
edied, but by means of which the vast frame-work 
of our forty-nine state, territorial and district sys- 
tems of public elementary education, can be utilized 
and converted into a mighty engine for the incul- 
cation of patriotism throughout the length and 
breadth of this land. 

Such a plan, possessing the advantage, as it 
necessarily would, of the vast pecuniary resources,* 
and the powerful social influences which even now 
characterize the public school systems of this 
Union, although they are but in their infancy — 
systems which, differ as they may in details, are 
nevertheless co-ordinated to a common end as vital 
elements in the nation's growth — even if attended 
with only a slight degree of success in accomplish- 
ing the high purpose at which it aimed, must, from 

* The public school expenditures for 1890-91, in the United States, 
are estimated at $150,000,000. 



Vlll 



the very nature of the case and the magnitude oi 
the numbers which it will affect, produce conse- 
quences in the course of a generation at once so 
momentous, that no man now living can properly 
estimate or even foreshadow them. 

Not the least of the powerful social forces to 
whose influences on the future of this people I have 
already referred, is that of immigration. A move- 
ment which within a period of seventy years has 
transferred to these shores fifteen millions of aliens, 
speaking more than forty distinct languages and 
dialects other than the English ; a vast number of 
whom bear in their physical and mental features 
the indelible impress of centuries of monarchical or 
aristocratic rule and oppression, and who have been 
trained to an implicit belief in and reverence for 
ecclesiastical institutions which find no place in our 
form of government, has, in many instances, so 
diluted our civilization, so radically modified many 
of the social and political conditions, which in the 
past have characterized our national life, and espe- 
cially have so frequently exercised a most baleful 
influence upon the administration of our municipal 
affairs, as to lead us to-day to the serious considera- 
tion of the question, of adopting such heroic rem- 
edies as will in future protect us from the evils and 
dangers, which this movement together with our 
own questionable generosity in investing large num- 
bers of the more ignorant and untrained of these 
accessions to our population with all the rights of 
American citizenship, has brought upon us. 



IX 



If for no other reason, therefore, than the warn- 
ing which these evils give, we should lose no time in 
adopting such measures, with respect to the educa- 
tion of the oncoming generation, as shall eventu- 
ally protect our country from their continuance * 
measures which should recognize primarily the 
absolute necessity of the precedence of the national 
language before all others, and the careful training 
of the whole body of our children in those funda- 
mental political doctrines which Americans very 
properly regard as the very aegis of their liberties. 

Passing from the consideration of the bearing of 
these momentous questions on the future life of 
this nation, to that of how far such questions affect 
the future of this metropolitan city only, and to 
the end that my readers may be put in entire sym- 
pathy with the spirit which is reflected in the 
methods of teaching patriotism outlined in the fol- 
lowing pages, it is necessary that we go back a few 
years, and together trace the successive steps by 
which I was led to prepare this monograph, and to 
examine the sources from which I have drawn in- 
spiration for my task. 

On the 15th of February, 1886, being then em- 
ployed in the oihce of the Commissioners of Ac- 
counts of this city, I was directed by these officers 
to make, on their behalf, an exhaustive examina- 
tion of the accounts, the organization, and the 
methods of administration of the Health Depart- 
ment of our city government. The entire time of 
a very able assistant, and a large proportion of my 



own, was employed for several months in executing 
these instructions ; to aid in which every facility 
was extended by the officers of that department. 

The distinguishing difference between the sani- 
tary system in force to-day in New York, and that 
which was followed up to the year 1866, is the 
practical and intelligent application of the great 
principle of prevention of unsanitary conditions, 
through the instrumentality of a properly organ- 
ized and efficiently administered Health Depart- 
ment. Since that year, one of the most important 
duties of this department, as prescribed by law, has 
been the oversight of that large class of dwellings, 
peculiar to this city, known as tenement-houses ; of 
which to-day there are upwards of 32,000 within 
the city limits, occupied by more than 1,100,000 
souls, or about two-thirds of the entire population ; 
the greater portion of whom are of foreign birth or 
of alien parentage. Since 1881, all such construc- 
tive details of this class of dwellings as relate to 
light, ventilation, plumbing and drainage, have 
been by statute under the charge of this depart- 
ment ; and hence its records present an exceptional, 
as well as the best opportunity to study in these 
houses, the methods of construction and the sani- 
tary and social condition of the homes of the great 
body of our population. 

The unusual facilities which this investigation 
afforded, of becoming familiar with the history and 
working of this department, led me to become 
deeply interested in what is known among us as 



XI 



tlie " tenement-house problem "; and as one result 
of my labors, after having left the employ of the 
Commissioners of Accounts, I prepared a history 
of the growth and development of the system, and 
of the physical and social causes which originated 
and have maintained it ; my treatment of the sub- 
ject covering the fifty years from 1839 to x 888 in- 
clusive. 

The critical examination of a subject so in- 
timately associated with the daily life and progress 
of the city in much that concerns its physical, 
moral and political growth, naturally led me to 
study several co-ordinate subjects, particularly that 
of public education ; than which no other is so 
closely connected and inwrought with the question 
of the elevation of the masses, in all that touches 
their material well-being and their training in 
American ideas. 

In April, 1888, while pursuing this line of re- 
search, I had the curiosity to visit one of our large 
public schools, for the purpose of witnessing the 
usual morning exercises, which in this instance 
happened to be of a patriotic character ; and were 
made more noticeable by the presence in front of the 
assembled school of an American flag, borne by 
what I have designated in my general plan as the 
" Class Standard-bearer." An innovation, as I was 
informed by the Principal, introduced by one of the 
School Inspectors only a few months before. 

In my boyhood I had attended one of the largest 
and best private schools of that day in this city, and 



Xll 



yet in the two and a half years passed in that school 
as a pnpil, I did not learn as much of patriotism, 
nor were my feelings ever so wrought upon, as 
in the fifteen minutes I was in this public school. 
The exercises, which I witnessed for the first 
time, made a profound impression upon me, and I 
thought I saw in them the germ of a patriotic 
movement, which, in the hands of wise and judicious 
teachers, could be made to produce results, the far- 
reaching consequences of which it would be impos- 
sible to prognosticate at this time. 

From that day to the present, when not engaged 
on my official duties, my attention has been directed 
almost exclusively to an examination and formula- 
tion of the most practical and efficient methods for 
training our city's youth of both sexes, to be thor- 
oughly intelligent, loyal and patriotic American 
citizens. 

The average age of both male and female pupils 
in the highest grammar grades of our public school 
system, is respectively fourteen years and eight 
months and fourteen years and ten months. In 
the matter of school instruction, therefore, so far as 
their age is concerned, the children in this city 
under tutelage may be regarded as under fifteen 
years of age. Regarding the character of the 
schools attended, these children may be separated 
into four distinct groups : 

i . Those who are receiving an elementary educa- 
tion in the public schools, the entire expense of such 
education being borne by the State ; or in what are 



Xlll 



known as " Corporate Schools," in which a portion 
of the expense — averaging per capita about two- 
thirds the annual cost of a primary pupil in the 
public schools * — is defrayed by the State. This 
group I estimate at about seventy-six per cent, of the 
whole number of children between the ages of five 
and fourteen, both inclusive. 

2. Those children who attend private sectarian 
or denominational schools, being about sixteen per 
cent, of the whole number under fifteen years of 
age. 

3. Those children who attend non-sectarian pri- 
vate schools, being about two per cent, of the total 
number; and 

4. Those children who for whatever reason do 
not attend school, being about six per cent, of the 
whole number. 

We now pass to the consideration of the social 
character of these children, and in how far the 
social status, the religious creed professed by the 
parents, and their pecuniary condition affect the 
question of the nature of the instruction their 
children receive, and through what agency such 
instruction is imparted. 

Regarding the children embraced in the fourth 
group, or those not attending any school, this group 
comprises those employed in commercial or manu- 
facturing establishments, being there engaged as 

* The annual average cost per scholar in the Primary Schools of this 
city, for the last seven years (1883-1889), has been $15.20.5; the aver- 
age annual per capita for the Corporate Schools during the same period 
has been $9.93. 



XIV 



messengers or in other light occupations ; or who 
are kept at work in their tenement-house homes by 
their parents, to aid in the support of the family. 
But for the efficient manner in which the Compulsory 
Education Act of 1874 has been executed in this 
city since its passage,* by the truant agents, this 
group would also include a large body of vagrant 
children and embryo criminals, whose rapidly- 
increasing numbers, between 1846 and 1876, pre- 
sented one of the most formidable social evils with 
which the philanthropists and eleemosynary socie- 
ties of that period had to cope ; and which was the 
immediate cause of the institution of that most 
admirable and efficient organization, which during 
its thirty-six years of life, has accomplished so vast 
and noble a work, viz. : The Children's Aid Society, 
of this city. 

The children who attend the non-sectarian private 
schools, come exclusively from the well-to-do, or the 
wealthy class. Many parents in this class, appar- 
ently ignorant of the radical changes for the better 
which fifty }rears have made in the organization, 
as well as in the efficiency, technical excellence, and 
national tone of our public schools, still retain and 
are influenced by the strong prej udices — which were 
almost universal among the representatives of these 
classes half a century ago — against having theii- 
children educated in the so-called charity schools of 

* "An Act to secure to children the benefits of elementary education." 
Passed May n, 1874. Chapter 421 Laws of 1874. 
Amended, Chapter 372, passed May 20, 1876. 



XV 



the Public School Society, or in those of their suc- 
cessors, the present public schools ; they prefer 
to be independent, to pay for their children's educa- 
tion, and accept no favors from the State. Other 
parents in this class, who flatter themselves that 
they are models of American citizenship, but whose 
caste and class prejudices far outweigh their knowl- 
edge and practice of American principles, prefer to 
have their children receive an elementary education 
at a private school, in order that they may associate 
only with others of the same social grade, rather 
than send them to a public school, to be, as they 
imagine, contaminated by personal contact with 
children of ruder manners and less-favored birth or 
social position. This class of our citizens, which 
happily is not a large one, seem to forget that in 
the great battle of life, in which all must sooner or 
later take a part, we cannot foresee who are to become 
either our associates, our friends, or our antagonists ;. 
in this drama we are largely the creatures of circum- 
stances and environment. Happy he, who in youth r 
has by contact with his fellows of all degrees, ac- 
quired those lessons of respect for the opinions and 
circumstances of others, and upon whose heart has 
been stamped in boyhood that first and grandest 
of all distinctively American principles — that all 
men were created equal before the law ; lessons 
which are so easily learned and impressions which 
are so readily received in childhood, but which are 
so hard to acquire and so difficult to make after 
the character has been shaped and determined ; but 



XVI 



which, nevertheless, will ever remain as the prac- 
tical touchstone of the possession of that broad 
charity which is the characteristic mark of the true 
.spirit of Christianity. 

On the other hand, if the wealthy parent desires 
to give his children all the advantages of the ad- 
mirable elementary education which the public 
school affords, and happens to reside within that 
district of the city, which the inexorable but unwrit- 
ten law of fashion has decreed as the only locality 
in which one of his position and means should 
establish a home, he discovers he has not this 
privilege, since there is no public school within a 
convenient distance of his residence. 

For it is a remarkable fact, which illustrates very 
strikingly the erroneous impressions as to the real 
object of the public school, which the otherwise 
much-to-be-praised work of the Public School So- 
ciety left on the public mind, and how in the con- 
fusion of ideas which grew out of the old methods, 
the rights of those living in the neighborhood to 
which I refer have been disregarded practically, up 
to this time, by Boards of School Trustees in select- 
ing sites for and erecting public schools, that in 
the finest residential district in the metropolis 
namely, that extending from Thirtieth street north 
to One Hundred and Twenty-fourth street; and 
from the Seventh avenue, on the west, to the 
Fourth or Park avenue on the east, a territory 
nearly one-half of which, outside of Central Park, 
is solidly built up ; in area more than four and a 



XV11 



half miles long by three-fifths of a mile wide, there 
is but a single public school.* While between 
Thirteenth and One Hundred and Twenty-fourth 
street, and from the Fourth avenue to the Sixth 
avenue there is not a single one. If the Third 
avenue be taken as the eastern boundary of the 
territory in question, making it four-fifths of a 
mile wide, we shall find within its limits but seven 
of the one hundred and seventy-six public schools 
whose interests are to-day managed by the Board 
of Education .f Barren as this territory is of public 
schools, it abounds with private, parochial and 
denominational schools, as an examination of the 
educational statistics of the city will abundantly 
prove. 

The children who attend the sectarian private 
schools, which embrace all the parochial and denom- 
inational ones, are the sons and daughters of 
parents whose desire to have their children 
brought up in what they believe to be the only true 
faith, is a far more weighty matter, from the pa- 
rental point of view, than either their own interest 

* Grammar School No. 69, at 129 West Fifty-fourth street, in the 
Twenty-second Ward. 

f Giving in addition to No. 69, Grammar School No. 18, 121 East 
Fifty-first street, Nineteenth Ward ; Grammar School No. 76, Lexing- 
ton avenue and Sixty-eighth street, Nineteenth Ward ; Grammar School 
No. 37, 113 East Eighty-seventh street, Twelfth Ward ; Grammar 
School No. 86, Lexington avenue and Ninety-sixth street, Twelfth Ward ; 
Grammar School No. 72, Lexington avenue, between One Hundred and 
Fifth street and One Hundred and Sixth street, Twelfth Ward ; and 
Grammar School No. 57, 178 East One Hundred and Fifteenth street, 
Twelfth Ward. 



xvm 



and duty as American citizens, or the superior edu- 
cation and training for such citizenship which the 
public school would afford the child. Too often, 
however, neither the parent nor the child has any 
option in the matter, the interests of ecclesiasticism 
being the superior and determining force which 
settles the question. The majority of these schools 
are connected with the Roman Catholic Church; 
the remainder representing mainly the German 
Lutheran, the Hebrew, the Episcopalian, the Scotch 
Presbyterian and the Quaker faiths. Many of the 
schools are made up exclusively of children of 
the same nationality and faith, in which a foreign 
language is the language of the school, thus per- 
petuating not only religious bigotry, but race preju- 
dices as well, than which nothing could be more 
directly opposed to American ideas and institutions. 

It remains now to speak only of the character of 
the children in the first group, or those who attend 
the public and corporate schools, which, as we have 
seen, comprise more than three-fourths of all the 
school children under fifteen years of age. 

The pupils in the public schools, as a body, come 
from the great middle-class of our citizens, without 
distinction of race, faith, occupation or pecuniary 
means, being that class which, in this city, as else- 
where in the United States, form the bulwark and 
strength of the Republic. Great numbers of these 
citizens were in youth enrolled in these schools, 
and hence most fully appreciate and eagerly seize 
the opportunity, which the constant advance in the 



XIX 



character and extent of the system affords, for giv- 
ing their children the most thorough elementary 
education attainable in the city. 

The forty-seven corporate schools, which are a 
peculiar feature of our public school system, are 
under the immediate care and management of 
sixteen separate incorporated bodies ; comprising 
orphan, half-orphan and other asylums, hospitals, 
the House of Refuge, and sundry societies. 

Of the 25,176 children enrolled in these various 
institutions in 1889, 6,428 were domiciled in the 
asylums, hospitals and the House of Refuge, the 
majority of the number being orphans or invalids. 
Most of the remaining 18,748 children reside with 
their parents in tenement-houses, and singular as 
it may appear, are entirely too poor to attend the 
public schools. Until I had made a personal in- 
vestigation of this subject, my impression had 
always been, and this view is, I think, shared by 
the great body of our educated citizens, that the 
public school system reaches down to the very 
foundations of the social structure, and affords the 
means of giving every child an elementary educa- 
tion, no matter how obscure or poor its parents may 
be. This is the theory of our public school system, 
and while it may be true in rural districts or in 
towns where social distinctions are not so sharply 
drawn as in our cities, it is not the case in this 
metropolis, as the most skeptical would be promptly 
convinced after visiting this class of schools. So 
that, but for the disinterested labors of these socie- 



XX 



ties, the great body of children now under their 
educational care, would — speaking broadly — never 
reap any advantage from the public school system, 
which to them is practically an exclusive institu- 
tion, with a few rare exceptions, entirely above and 
beyond their reach. 

In order that the social and economic conditions 
out of which these societies have sprung — and 
which have made such organizations a necessity in 
this city for the past fifty years — may be better 
understood by those who have never investigated 
this question, I give here a few pertinent extracts 
from the early annual reports of the Children's Aid 
Society, the largest of these organizations, which 
bear directly on the point I desire to illustrate. It 
was in the year 1853 that this Society first began, 
in a very simple and unostentatious way, the noble 
work which it still carries forward with increased 
vigor and increased means, year by year. In its 
first report,* its able secretary thus sums up the 
causes which gave it birth : 

" This association has sprung from the increasing 
sense among our citizens of the evils of the city. 
Thirty years ago (1824) tne proposal of an impor- 
tant organization, which should devote itself entirely 
to the class of vagrant, homeless and criminal chil- 
dren in New York, would have seemed absurd. 
There were vile streets, and destitute and abandoned 
people, but the city was young and thriving. 
Wealth and Christian enterprise had centered here ; 

* First annual report, February, 1854, pages 3, 4. 



XXI 



and the scum of poverty, it was thought, would soon 
be floated off through the thousand channels of 
livelihood over the whole country. No one would 
have believed that in less than half a century, a. 
London St. Giles or Spitalfields would have grown 
up in New York. In human probability it must be 
long before those hideous and unnatural conditions 
of the European cities — the result of ages of igno- 
rance and inequality and over-crowded population — 
could be realized here." 

" In these considerations, one element was for- 
gotten. During the last twenty years (since 1834),, 
a tide of population has been setting towards these 
shores, to which there is no movement parallel in 
history. During the year 1852 alone, 300,992 alien 
passengers landed in New York, or nearly at the 
rate of one thousand a day for every week-day. Of 
these, 118,131 were from Ireland and 118,611 from. 
Germany. A portion of this immigration has been 
good — sober, hard-working people, who have spread 
over the country and became mingled with our 
population. Another part has been bad, almost the 
worst — the offscourings of the poorest districts and 
most degraded cities of the Old World. The pau- 
perism and poverty of England and Ireland have 
been drained into New York. If this could have 
spread over our land, to be influenced by the new cir- 
cumstances, the effect would not have been so bad.. 
But in the main it has settled and stagnated in the 
city. The poor immigrants could not afford to go> 
to the West, or with the natural caution of igno- 



XX11 



ranee they dreaded to go. Our poorest streets 
began to be filled up witb a thriftless, beggared, 
dissolute population. As is always the case in such 
circumstances, vice and laziness stimulated each 
other. The poor and idle of a street grew worse for 
having poor and idle neighbors. The respectable 
and industrious moved out of certain quarters ; and 
such places as the Five Points began to be known. 
Streets once inhabited by the best people, as lower 
Pearl, Cherry and Dover streets, were abandoned, 
and have since been held mostly by lodging-houses 
of the poorer immigrants. 

" The children of this class, naturally, have 
grown up under the concentrated influences of the 
poverty and vice, around them. Many of our citi- 
zens were aware of the increasing number of these 
children, but no one realized the full extent of the 
evil until the report of Captain Matsell, Chief of 
Police, 1848-49. By this report it appeared that 
the whole number of vagrant children in the city 
was nearly 10,000,* and that in eleven wards 2,955 
children were engaged in thieving, of whom two- 
thirds were girls between the ages of eight and 
sixteen. 

" In 1852 the Grand Jury reported, ' of the 
liigher grades of felony ■, four fifths of the complaints 
examined have been against minors, and two-thirds 
of all the complaints acted on during the term 

* The population in 1848 was 452,092. Number of children of five to 
seventeen years, 113,000. Hence one child in every eleven was a 
•yagrant. 



XX111 



have been against persons between the ages of 
nineteen and twenty-one.' 

" The Warden of the City Prison (the Tombs) 
says in his report for the same year : ' The astound- 
ing fact that more than one-fourth of the entire 
number committed to this prison, and nearly one- 
half of those charged with petty offenses against 
persons and property, had not attained the age of 
twenty-one years, calls loudly for the adoption of 
some measure which shall stay the progress of 
these cadets of crime.' 

" In the Eleventh Ward the Captain of Police re- 
ported that out of the 12,000 children in the ward, 
between the ages of five and sixteen, only 7,000 at- 
tended school." 

Much more testimony to the same effect is pre- 
sented in the first report of the Society. I now 
quote from its second report : * 

" The greatest danger that can threaten a coun- 
try like ours is from the existence of an ignorant, 
debased, permanently poor class in the great cities. 
It is still more threatening if this class be of 
foreign birth and of different habits from those of 
our own people. The members of it come at length 
to form a separate population. They embody the 
lowest passions and most thriftless habits of the 
community. They corrupt the honest classes of 
working poor who are around them. The expenses 
of police, of prisons, of charities and means of re- 

* Second Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society, February, 
1855, pages 3, 4. 



XXIV 



lief are mostly from them. The very condensing 
of their number within a small space seems to stim- 
ulate their bad tendencies. They are liable to be 
played upon by demagogues, and in the close con- 
test of parties they may easily turn the balance of 
an election. If their numbers be large, times of 
great want and excitement may call them out in 
ungoverned license, to seize upon the luxuries 
which surround them, but which they are never 
allowed to taste. The indulgence which has so 
long been chained down by poverty can easily burst 
forth in rapine. Neither liberty nor property would 
be safe in such hands. . . . That such a class has 
been gradually growing up in New York during the 
last twenty years to immense numbers, no one who 
knows the city can doubt ; our own operations, now 
finishing the second year, strengthens the conviction 
that the statistics furnished the last year, in regard 
to the condition and number of this class, are not 
exaggerated, and that the mass of the evil and its 
distance from the usual modes of cure are even 
greater than we supposed." 

"It is this class we have sought to aid by our 
association." 

In 1853 the Society opened one Industrial School 
for the children of the class above described. In 
1855 it had six such schools, in which eight hun- 
dred such children were brought under the influence 
of the Society. What that influence was among the 
girls is told in the following words : 

'" Whatever has been done this last year in civil- 



XXV 



izing and Christianizing the little wandering and 
begging girls of our city, through the Industrial 
schools, is to be ascribed especially and principally 
to the women of New York. They have come from 
great distances, through all kinds of inclement 
weather, often every day, leaving pleasures and oc- 
cupations, to these schools, to give their personal 
aid in raising up the wretched outcast children. 
It has been no play, no mere ' rose-water ' benevo- 
lence. The children have been bad-tempered, filthy, 
infested with vermin, and sometimes impudent and 
ungrateful. The work has required a great pa- 
tience and a continued self-devotion. Beside such 
charity, the gift of money is easy and pleasant. 
The labor, however, has already borne rich fruits. 
Schools, which like that in the Fourth Ward, began 
in ungovernable disorder and riot, now often seem 
like attentive, affectionate family schools. The 
girls are cleaner, better behaved ; swearing and ob- 
scene language have been dropped. They can read 
and sew, some can write ; sweet songs of purity 
and religion are learned, which are sung again in 
their squalid homes. A purer and kindlier expres- 
sion has seated itself on many faces. Some have 
been sent away to new homes in the country ; some 
to the public schools." 

Of the details of administration of these schools, 
the report says : " The plan of these schools has 
been to devote the morning hours to common En- 
glish branches and to singing, under the direction 
of salaried teachers, aided by volunteer teachers. 



XXVI 



A cheap dinner is provided at noon, and the after- 
noon is spent in sewing or some industrial occupa- 
tion. Bach lady has her own class and hour ; some 
coming even every day of the week." 

Some idea of the social condition and nationality 
of the children may be obtained from the following 
statistics of the Fourth Ward school, in 1855, num- 
bering 270 scholars: "About one-eighth are or- 
phans ; two-thirds half-orphans ; four-fifths are 
Catholics, and nearly as many Irish. There are 
twelve Germans and one French girl in the school. 
Since this school opened, vagrancy among children 
has diminished full one-half in the ward." 

I might fill pages with similar excerpts from the 
reports of this Society, in which are gathered and 
stored the history of thirty-seven years of just such 
persistent, devoted, intelligent and truly Christian 
work, as these brief extracts illustrate ; but my 
present object is simply to direct attention to what 
a single Society — among numerous others working 
in the same broad field — has accomplished since 
1853 ; not merely to ameliorate the pitiful condition 
of the unfortunate children whose lot has been cast 
amid the squalor, vice and misery of a great city ; 
but to show how this human scum, cast on our 
shores by the tidal wave of a vast immigration, has 
not been allowed to perish, but as the wards of hu- 
manity, under the benign influences of American 
institutions, and through personal contact with the 
refined and noble representatives of a higher civili- 



XXV11 



zation, have been regenerated, and had opened up 
to them in strange and wide contrast with their 
hopeless surroundings, all the bright possibilities 
of an honest and useful life, and of an intelligent 
and honorable American citizenship. 

Touching the ultimate effect and outcome of this 
abnormal and vicious growth of ignorant, destitute 
and heathenish boys and girls within our body pol- 
itic, where it was not brought under the influences 
here described, the ominous prophecy uttered in the 
first report of this Society in 1853, was more than 
fulfilled ten years thereafter. The ten thousand 
vagrant children of 1848, together with the acces- 
sions of subsequent years, grown to manhood and 
womanhood, became the brutal, savage, murderous 
mob of 1863, the character and influence of whose 
barbaric deeds I have fully described in my history 
of the tenement-house system, and alluded to in 
the opening portion of the address of which the 
following monograph forms a part. 

The fundamental idea upon which this Society 
was founded, and which has been its governing 
motive ever since, was that of self-help ; of teaching 
children that best of all secular knowledge — how to 
help themselves. In other words, putting in prac- 
tice with these scholars, the American idea of train- 
ing them to be self-reliant. The practical applica- 
tion of this principle, as it relates to the work of 
this Society, has taken three distinct forms or direc- 
tions, according to the social condition and situation 



XXV111 



of the individual child. The better to illustrate 
just how this has been accomplished, I quote from 
the Society's last annual report as follows : * 

I. The Placing-out System. — " The principle was 
laid down from our first year that for an outcast, or 
homeless or orphan child, not tainted with bad 
habits, the best possible place of shelter and educa- 
tion, better than any prison or public institution, 
was the farmer's home. In this shelter the child 
was to be taught good habits and good morals, and, 
with no expense to the public, was to be brought 
up to be a self-supporting man or woman. The 
experiment has been tried on the broadest scale, and 
over 70,000 children have thus been placed in good 
homes. Thousands have grown up to manhood 
and womanhood, and are now worthy citizens, good 
heads of families, and some with fair properties of 
their own ; or they have been trained at good 
schools and colleges." 

II. Boys 1 and Girls' Lodging-houses. — " The next 
great branch in the process of teaching self-help 
was the planting, in various parts of the city, of a 
kind of " Children's Hotel," or Boys' and Girls' 
Lodging-houses. Here the homeless wanderer and 
arab of the street, instead of drifting into thieves' 
dens and the haunts of vagabonds and roughs, was 
brought into a clean, healthy, well-warmed and 
lighted building, where he found rooms for amuse- 
ment, for instruction, for religious training, and 

* Thirty-eighth Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society, 
November, 1889. 



XXIX 



where good meals, comfortable beds, and plenty of 
washing and bathing conveniences were furnished 
at a low price. The boy was not panperized, but 
felt that he was in his own hotel and supporting 
himself. Some were loaned money to begin 
business with ; others were sent to places in the 
city, or far away in the country. The whole class 
were partly redeemed and educated by these simple 
influences. The pauper was scarce ever known to 
have come out of these houses, and self-help was 
the first lesson learned. The government of the 
houses was so strict, and the conveniences offered 
to the lads so simple, that they never attracted the 
idle, who might wish only to get public assistance." 

" Bach child paid for what he got, except under 
very unfortunate circumstances ; and it cannot be 
said that the small modicum of assistance given 
here to worthy lads, ever tended in the least to 
lower the rate of wages in street trades. The 
experiment, carried out in these thirty-seven years 
on a gigantic scale, reaching probably 200,000 boys 
and girls, has been an unmingled blessing to this 
class. The difficulties have been, not in the 
lodging-houses, but in the obstacles thrown by the 
trades-unions, around the pathway of every street 
boy who has passed childhood, in learning trades or 
in securing steady employment." 

III. Industrial Schools. — " The third great branch 
in teaching the children of the poor, who have a 
home with their parents, to help themselves, has 
been the Industrial Day and Night Schools. These 



XXX 



have trained hundreds of thousands of the children 
of the tenement-houses in various hand industries 
and some branches of machine work. Children 
have been taught to sew, darn, crochet and em- 
broider. They have learned the use of the sewing- 
machine ; in some cases of the type-writer, and 
certain branches of artistic work ; like modeling, 
original designing, lace-work and printing. Above 
all, they have learned to be clean, to be orderly, 
respectful, industrious, and honest and pure. They 
have received great assistance in the food and cloth- 
ing furnished ; and though the children are forced 
to leave school at twelve or thirteen years, they 
have gone forth a most deserving and respectable 
class of working boys and girls. The city could 
not get on without these industrial schools ; they 
fill a gap which the public schools must leave, and 
they are the more indispensable, as there is not at 
present sufficient space in the new public school 
buildings for the increasing population of children 
in the city." 

" These were the main branches of our work from 
the. beginning, and they have been carried out with 
continual reference to the great principle of teaching 
self-help. It cannot be wondered at, that careful 
labors, founded on these principles and performed 
faithfully for over thirty years, have borne wonder- 
ful fruit in the city. They have reached down to 
the very depths, and have lighted up the prisons 
and the dens of poverty in every quarter of the city. 
Through these efforts, and others like them, there 



XXXI 



has been a steady decrease in juvenile crime, as can 
be clearly demonstrated." 

As an important part of my study of the subject 
of public education in this city, and for the purpose 
of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the work 
of this Society, so far as an examination of its 
industrial day schools, would illustrate the working 
of the system there followed, and that I might,, 
from personal investigation and observation, ascer- 
tain how far the experience of the teachers, with the 
children of alien birth, or those of alien parentage, 
who form almost the entire personnel of these 
schools, had indicated the need of special attention 
to patriotic education; in January, 18S9, I com- 
menced a somewhat critical examination of the 
Society's twenty-one day schools, a task which occu- 
pied the greater portion of my time for nearly two 
months. 

This examination embraced, in each case, the 
character of the locality and of the school-house site ; 
the construction and arrangement of the school 
building, including its sanitary condition as showrr 
by the methods employed for lighting, heating,, 
ventilating and draining the same ; the personnel 
of each school as indicated by the number, training" 
and experience of the teachers ; the number, aver- 
age age, social condition, nationality and occupa- 
tions of the children ; the kind of school furniture: 
and appliances in use ; the provisions for supplying 
the most needy of the pupils with a wholesome 
noonday meal, and with serviceable clothing ; the. 



XXX11 



character of the instruction given in the elementary 
branches, under the requirements of the public 
school regulations ; and particularly the time and 
attention given to such kinds of industrial work 
or training, as especially fitted the pupil for self- 
support ; the state of discipline, including personal 
cleanliness, neatness in personal appearances, etc. ; 
the system of rewards in use ; the relation existing 
between the teachers and the parents of each pupil J 
and finally, to what extent and by what methods a 
spirit of patriotism was being fostered and culti- 
vated in the scholars. 

The strongest impression made on my mind by 
this protracted and painstaking inquiry, was a deep 
sense and appreciation of the grand work in which 
this Society is engaged, and is so successfully accom- 
plishing, towards elevating the social condition, not 
only of the pupils under its care, but indirectly, 
through them, of that great body of our citizens, 
composed of the unskilled laborers and their fami- 
lies, which in a social sense finds itself between the 
skilled laboring class on the one side, and the crim- 
inal and pauper class on the other ; this latter, con- 
stituting, so to speak, the substratum of our civili- 
zation in this metropolis. 

Recruited almost entirely as these schools are 
from the foreign element, comprising a body of 
youth, who, as has already been stated, are unable 
from the extreme poverty of their parents, or the 
necessity of aiding in the family support, to con- 
form to the unwritten law of custom, respecting 



XXX111 



dress, or the regulations as to hours which obtain 
in our public schools ; many of them, as the descend- 
ents of a long line of ignorant, stolid or debased 
progenitors, without any social advantages what- 
ever, and having to contend intellectually and 
morally against great odds ; the results which have 
been accomplished by the Society acting through 
its corps of able and experienced teachers, are in- 
deed almost incredible ; indeed I know of no single 
agency in this city to-day, which is doing so much 
to raise the character and promote the well-being of 
the class with which it deals and make excellent 
citizens out of the most unpromising material, as 
this Society. 

I should do injustice to my earnest convictions, 
founded upon a personal acquaintance incident to 
the examination here referred to, did I omit to re- 
cord my tribute of respect for the professional ability, 
the rare patience, tact and courage, the singleness 
of purpose, and the entire self-devotion which the 
body of women, who compose the teachers in these 
schools, bring to the discharge of their onerous, 
difficult, and, in many cases, far from personally 
agreeable duties. Their untiring zeal in the noble 
cause in which they are engaged, tempered by a 
sound judgment, have enabled them to succeed 
where thousands of others would have failed. 

The remarkable manner in which many of them 
have inspired, and have impressed their individuality 
upon, their charges, and the great personal influence 
for good which they all exert, both on the scholars 



XXXIV 



and their parents, has excited my admiration for 
their ability, as well as my profound respect for 
their character as representatives of their sex. 

The educational feature of these schools, which 
particularly interested me, was the method each 
Principal had been led gradually to adopt, to meet 
a necessity which daily experience had forced upon 
her, of cultivating and developing patriotic feeling 
in the children ; which, according to the individual 
character and training of the teachers themselves, I 
found more or less strongly marked in every 
school. 

In considering this feature of the curriculum, I 
was led to seek for some plan by which — while rec- 
ognizing the value of the special method adopted in 
each school to suit its peculiar personnel — I could 
unify these isolated efforts, make each a part of an 
harmonious whole ; and by turning, so to speak, the 
several patriotic streams into a common channel, 
without in any degree lessening the individuality 
of the teacher — but rather giving it freer play — 
produce not only more impressive and lasting re- 
sults, but open the way for a system of elementary 
instruction in American principles and institu- 
tions, now so greatly needed. 

As a result of a communication to the secretary 
of the Society on the subject of the patriotic train- 
ing of children in its schools, and upon his invita- 
tion; on the 28th of June last, I delivered an address 
before the teachers of the Society entitled : " The 
Place of the Industrial Schools oe the 



XXXV 



Children's Aid Society oe the City oe New 
York, in a General Plan for the Patriotic 
Education oe the Youth oe this Nation." 
My object in that address was threefold : 
i. To call attention to the tremendous influence 
exerted by two agents alone — immigration and 
crime — on the social, moral and political character 
of our population, by presenting in convenient jux- 
taposition, synchronous tables of the immigration 
into this country and into this city, and of the 
arrests, committals and convictions for crime in 
this city for the seventy years, from October i, 
1829 — the date when the first United States statute 
respecting immigration went into operation — up 
to the 30th of September, 1889. 

2. To trace to their source in the social condition 
of the masses, in the countries furnishing the great 
body of this immigration, the causes which had 
contributed to swell the records of crime in this 
city, during the whole of the period in question, 
and to point out those local influences which had 
tended to gradually reduce such record during the 
last thirty years. 

3. To indicate one of the lines on which the 
counter-force of education must work, in order to 
counteract the pernicious influence and overcome 
the evils of those two great agencies, being that 
form of education which relates to the highest con- 
ception of citizenship, namely, patriotism. 

It was my intention to have published this ad- 
dress in the Fall of 1889, but the labor of collating 



XXXVI 



and preparing for the press the statistics of immi- 
gration into the whole United States, of so ranch 
of it as landed in this city during the period indi- 
cated, as also the statistics of crime above described, 
in a form to be of practical value to students of so- 
ciology, has proved so great, that, taken in connec- 
tion with my official duties, such publication has 
necessarily been postponed for the present. In the 
meantime, the requests for so much of that address 
as gives my views on patriotic education, per se, have 
been so numerous, that the only way of complying 
therewith was to print as a monograph that portion 
which dealt simply with this subject. 

The preparation for the press of this excerpt, 
which is entitled " The Patriotic Education of Chil- 
dren in the City of New York" has been in pro- 
gress since November last. It will be completed and 
published in August next. In this work the sub- 
ject of patriotic education is treated under three 
separate heads, namely : i. Its Necessity ; 2. Its 
Philosophy ; and 3. The Methods of Teaching 
It. On coming to edit and somewhat enlarge this 
part of the address, in which, at the time of deliver- 
ing, I did little more than sketch such a plan for 
practical use, I found the field so new and so 
wide, and the amount of labor involved in the 
necessary researches so great, as to make it imprac- 
ticable to carry out my original intention, in time 
to make this extract available during the present 
school year. Moreover, since I first brought this mat- 
ter to the attention of the teachers of the Children's 



XXXV11 



Aid Society, in June last, the question as to how 
best treat the subject from its practical, as well as 
its emotional side, has been most carefully recon- 
sidered ; leading me to the conclusion that to make 
the proposed plan successful, so far as enlisting the 
hearty interest and co-operation of both pupils and 
teachers is concerned, and also that the methods 
proposed shall not impose an undue amount of 
mental and physical labor upon the latter, the 
movement should be commenced at its most elemen- 
tary stage, and as the simpler methods are tried 
and mastered, the training should pass to other 
and higher developments along the lines of pro- 
gress I have successively indicated. 

In order to put the plan I have formulated to 
the most practical test, it is my intention to intro- 
duce the methods for cultivating patriotism, out- 
lined in this work, into the twenty-one day-schools 
of the Children's Aid Society with their enrollment 
of nearly 5,000 pupils,* permission to do so having 
been granted by the Society ; my contention being, 
that if such methods can be successfully carried out 
in these schools, with the character of personnel 
herein described, there can be no possible doubt but 
that equal — indeed, far greater success will attend 
its introduction into the public schools, where, as a 
rule, the material to be dealt with is socially, 
morally and intellectually superior. 

* A return from all these schools on the 30th of April, 1890, showed 
an enrollment of 4,898 pupils; an average attendance of 4,016; 129 
classes, and 90 class-rooms. 



xxxvm 



Finding it impracticable to publish the whole 
work before the closing of these schools, early in 
July next, and being desirous of placing that part 
of it which treats of the methods of teaching 
Emotional Patriotism in the hands of the teachers 
as soon as possible, so that they might become 
somewhat familiar with the text before the opening 
of their schools in the Fall, I have decided to pub- 
lish at once, in the form here presented, so much 
of Part Third as relates to this special division of 
my subject, leaving to be treated under the caption 
of Intellectual Patriotism, those topics, the con- 
sideration of which comes properly under both 
heads ; such as the use of the Declaration of 
Independence, the order of the daily morning exer- 
cise, how to observe Patriot's Day, and how public 
schools should celebrate the anniversary of our 
National Independence. 

On the opening of the schools, on the 8th of 
September next, so far as my friends, the teachers 
in the Children's Aid Schools are concerned, I trust 
they will all be prepared to enter upon the work 
with a good theoretical knowledge at least of what 
is to be done ; feeling well assured that from Prin- 
cipals, teachers and scholars I shall have that hearty 
support and co-operation, without which no efforts 
of mine can make the plan a success. 



GEORGE T. BALCH. 



33 East Twenty-second Street, 

New York, June 10, 1890. 



SYLLABUS AND INDEX. 



Jkfaterial Aids to Patriotic Education — 

The national flag, the national arms, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, ....... 3 

Emotional and intellectual patriotism, . . . . 4 



I. EMOTIONAL PATRIOTISM. 

The relation of the child to the nation, 

The relation of the citizen to the body politic, 

The national flag as a reward and an object lesson, 

Official history of the national flag, 

Good conduct in its relation to citizenship defined, 

1. The Badge of Citizenship, . 

Official history of the Great Seal of the United States, 
Description of the badge for scholars, teachers and Princi 
pals, ...... 

How used in schools, ..... 

2. The Scholar's Flag, 

Description of the flag for use in kindergarten grades, primary 

grades and grammar grades, .... 

How to be presented and surrendered each day, . 
Constitutional definition of a citizen, . 

3. The Class Flag, 

Description of this flag to be used in schools, . 

The choice of a flag-bearer, 

How this flag is to be used, .... 

The class color-guard, .... 

Salutation of the Class Flag by the assembled school at the daily 

morning exercise, . • . 
Order of the Navy Department concerning the salutation of the 

colors on men-of-war, . . . . . . . 



4 

7 

9 

11 

12 

13 
14 

15 
17 



21 

22 
25 
26 

28 
28 
30 
31 

32 

34 



xl 

PAGE: 

4. The School Flag, ... 36 
How this flag is to be used, . . . . • 3& 
Description of this flag for Primary Schools, . . 39/ 
For Grammar, High and Normal Schools, . . .40 
Providing flags for schools a good investment, . . 41 
Statement showing the comparative cost of crime and public 

education in the city of New York in 1889, . . .42 

Presentation of flags by Grand Army Posts, ... 43 

Embroidering the name of the school on the flag, . . 44 

Qualifications of the School Standard-bearer ; eligibility, . 45 

Term of office, . . . . . . .46 

Mode of election, ...... 47 

Judges of election; how chosen; their duties, . . .49 

Form of letter proposing a candidate, ... 50 

Form of report of judges of election, . . . -51 

The school color-guard, . . . . . 52 

Eligibility of candidates, . . . . 53 

Term of office; how elected, .... 54. 

Form of report of judges of election, . . . -55 
Transfer of the School Flag from the custody of the old to that 

of the new guard, ...... 56 

5. The Signal Flag, . , .60 

History of the flag on the school-houses in New York City, 1861- 

1889, ........ 6r 

Voluntary vs. compulsory patriotism, . . . -63. 

Permissive and mandatory legislation, ... 65 

Wisconsin flag law, . . . . . . 65 

Draft of flag bill defeated in the Pennsylvania Legislature, . 66 

Draft of flag bill introduced in the New York Legislature, . 68 
Example of voluntary patriotism in the West Side Italian School, 

New York City, ...... 69 

The significance of the flag on the school-house, . . .72 

How shall the loyalty of a school to American institutions be 

ascertained and tested? ..... 74 

What the flag means to an American school-boy of fourteen, . 78 
Prize essay by a New York City school-boy on "The Patriotic 

Influence of the American Flag when Raised Above a Public 

School" . . . . . ... 79 

Formal adoption of the Signal Flag by the school, . .81 

Form of notice for an election to decide whether a school will 

adopt a Signal Flag, ...... 83 

Description and dimensions of ensigns used in the United States 

Army, ........ 85 



xli 



Description and dimensions of ensigns and pennants used in the 

United States Navy, ...... 87 

Table of approximate prices of American ensigns, . . 88 

Locating the flag-staff, ...... 89 

How to procure the flag, flag-staff and appliances, . . 91 
Duties of the general committee and of the sub-com- 
mittees, ....... 92 

Rules for inspecting flags, . . . . -93 

Custodianship and dedication of the flag, ... 96' 
The flag used as a signal to indicate that the school is in ses- 
sion, ........ 98 

The flag as a semaphore signal, .... 100 

Such use should be discouraged, ..... 102 

Duties of the School Standard-bearer, . . . 103 
Form of weekly report to be made to the Principal by the School 

Standard-bearer, ....... 107 

Review of the methods proposed for cultivating emotional pa- 
triotism, ....,,, 108. 



4-PART THIRDS 



METHODS 



TEACHING PATRIOTISM 



' ' Our flag means then, all that our fathers mea?it 
in the Revolutionary War; it means all that the Dec- 
laration of Independence meant; it means all that 
the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, 
for liberty and for happiness meant. Our flag carries 
American ideas, American history and American 
feelings. Beginning with the Colonies and coming 
down to our time, in its sacred heraldry, in its glorious 
insignia, it has gathered and stored chiefly this su- 
preme idea : Divine right of liberty in man. 
Every color means liberty, every thread means liberty,, 
every form of star and beam of light means liberty. 
Not lawlessness, not license, but organized institu- 
tional liberty — liberty through law, and laws for 
liberty. 

' ''Accept it then, in all its fullness of meaning. It is 
not a painted rag. It is a whole national history. It 
is the Constitution. It is the Government. It is the 
emblem of the sovereignty of the people. It is the 
NATIONS 

Henry Ward Beecher in 1861. 



MATERIAL AIDS TO PATRIOTIC EDUCATION. 

To apply practically the principles here enunci- 
ated and the methods just described, in order to 
make an intensely enthusiastic and thoroughly loyal 
American citizen of every child in every school of 
this society, and through their influence, of all the 
children in every other school in this city, whether 
it be public or private, sectarian or non-sectarian, is 
the problem before us for solution. 

The material objects by the use of which it is 
proposed to attain this end, are the only emblems of 
nationality used by our Government, namely : the 
national ensign and the arms of the United States, 
and in addition and as supplementary thereto, cer- 
tain great state papers in fac-simile, first and fore- 
most among which I rank the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

The significance of the flag lies in the fact, that 
it represents our whole national history in all the 
fullness of meaning which Henry Ward Beecher 
breathed into these words, in that stirring address, 
an extract from which glows on the preceding page ; 
and that our flag is moreover the sole symbol of the 
greatness of this nation, in all its majesty and its 
sovereignty. 

That of the arms of the United States as dis- 
played in the Great Seal, because the seal is the 



only official mark and evidence of the nation's 
authority or will. Of the Declaration, because it is 
the catechism of the nation's civil polity. 

I shall consider the most judicious and practicable 
manner of using these aids to patriotic education, 
first : as a means of reaching and affecting the emo- 
tional side of the child's nature, and thus so exciting 
its imagination and touching its heart that it will 
unconsciously, but none the less effectually, become 
interested in its personal relation to this great nation. 
Next, as a means of stimulating into activity the 
intellectual side of its nature, by developing its 
mental and moral faculties to that degree, that it 
will be capable, through the study of the philosophy 
of American history, of understanding and appreci- 
ating the underlying principles of our government, 
and thus become firmly grounded in its political 
faith, as a citizen of the Republic. 

This portion of my subject, therefore, is divided 
naturally into two distinct parts : i. Emotional 
Patriotism, and 2. Logical or Intellectual 
Patriotism. 

i. emotional patriotism. 

Before proceeding to describe in detail the manner 
of employing the several symbols selected, I desire 
to urge upon you the importance of understanding 
clearly, that the central idea by which the teacher's 
efforts to impress the child is to be governed and 
directed, is that of its relation to the nation as one of 
its future citizens. 



I do not mean by this that I expect the child to 
apprehend at once in any marked degree the true 
character of this relationship. Far from it. A child 
of from four to nine years of age can form no more 
conception of the physical magnitude, or the moral 
or political power conveyed by the word nation, than 
a finite being can comprehend the vast and awful 
attributes of the Infinite Creator of all things. We 
encounter here precisely the same difficulty which 
every religious teacher meets with in endeavoring 
to present to the mind of a child or that of an adult 
savage the idea of a God. It can comprehend the 
idea of a nation or of a God only just so far as its 
scanty knowledge of numbers, of magnitudes, and 
of the characteristics of personal power, gained in 
its limited and narrow experience of life, and of the 
realities of that life in the concrete, may extend. 
But if the idea indicated is ever present with the 
teacher, if the teacher sincerely believes in, and can 
truthfully indorse the exalted patriotic sentiment of 
De Thou — that next to what we owe to God, nothing 
should be more dear or sacred than the love and re- 
spect we owe our country — it will be possible to 
so direct the child's thoughts, to so surround it 
as it were with the atmosphere of patriotic feeling, 
that as has been already shown, it will insensi- 
bly become interested ■ in and permeated with the 
thought or impression you are essaying to convey. 
So, that by the time the pupil has attained the age 
of ten or twelve years, it will have developed a 
capacity for apprehending principles and under- 



standing the force of, as well as remembering his- 
toric facts, which would seem marvelous were we 
not familiar with the training which has made such 
intellectual development possible. 

You will observe that I refer to the relation of the 
child to the nation, and not to that of the children to 
the nation. I do so advisedly ; for in order to attain 
the end herein set forth, the more directly and suc- 
cessfully, our first efforts as it seems to me, should 
be directed to the individual child, not to the child 
as forming one of a class or as a mere unit in a 
body or group of similar units, but the child as im- 
personating the sum of its natural gifts and charac- 
teristic traits, and as thus segregated and distin- 
guished from all other children with whom it is as- 
sociated. Let us commence our system of training 
for citizenship then with the little child, passing from 
it to the same children aggregated or grouped in 
classes, but still maintaining, so far as character is 
concerned, the individuality of each. Having in this 
way developed its sense of the value of associated 
action, having instructed it practically in the spirit 
which underlies all civil society, namely, the sur- 
render to society at large of certain private rights, 
as a return and partial compensation for the advan- 
tages accruing to the individual as a member of that 
society, in increased security of person and property, 
in the growth and enlargement of natural gifts in 
directions more useful, more gainful, and hence more 
desirable, than could possibly be enjoyed in a state 
of personal isolation, and as a consequence in in- 



creased personal freedom and larger opportunities 
for the development of character, as is clearly set 
forth in the Declaration of Rights in the constitu- 
tions of the original States,* we are now prepared to 

* I give herewith The Relation of the Individual Citizen to the 
Body Politic or Civil Society, as set forth in four of these con- 
stitutions. That of Massachusetts is especially remarkable for the com- 
pactness of its argument and the perspicuity of its statements. 

1776. Pennsylvania. That every member of society hath a right 
to be protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property, and there- 
fore is bound to contribute his proportion towards the expense of that 
protection, and yield his personal service when necessary, or an equival- 
ent thereto ; but no part of a man's property can be justly taken from 
him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of his 
legal representatives ; nor can any man who is conscientiously scrupu- 
lous of bearing arms, be justly compelled thereto, if he will pay such 
equivalent ; nor are the people bound by any laws but such as they have 
in like manner assented to, for their common good. — Constitution of 
1776. Declaration of Rights. Section 8. 

1777. Vermont. That every member of society hath a right to be 
protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property, and, therefore, 
is bound to contribute his proportion towards the expense of that pro- 
tection, and yield his personal service when necessary, or an equivalent 
thereto ; but no part of a man's property can be justly taken from him, 
or applied to public uses without his own consent, or that c.f his legal 
representatives ; nor can any man who is conscientiously scrupulous of 
bearing arms, be justly compelled thereto, if he will pay such equivalent ; 
nor are the people bound by any law but such as they have, in like 
manner, assented to, for their common good. — Constitution of 1777. 
Chapter I. Declaration of Rights. Section 9. 

1780. Massachusetts. The body politic is formed by a voluntary 
association of individuals ; it is a social compact by which the whole 
people covenants with each citizen and each citizen with the whole 
people that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. 
It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of gov- 
ernment to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as 
for an impartial interpretation and a faithful execution of them ; that 
every man may, at all times, find his security in them. — Constitution of 
1780. Preamble. 

1784. New Hampshire. When men enter into a state of society, 
they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society, in order to 
insure the protection of others, and without such an equivalent, the sur- 
render is void. — Constitution of 1784. Bill of Rights. Article I. Section^. 



pass to that wider application of the same principle, 
in which classes are the nnits and their aggregation 
forms what we denominate a school ; thns conform- 
ing our methods to the natural law of expansive 
growth from the center outward, from the small to 
the great. A training, you will perceive, quite in 
consonance, also, with the political relation of the in- 
dividual citizen to the smallest unit of civil govern- 
ment, namely, the village, the city ward or the rural 
town or township ; passing next to his relation to 
the county, next to his relation to the state, and 
lastly to his relation to the whole body of the people 
composing the nation. In other words, let us com- 
mence the patriotic education of children where all 
other kinds of education properly commence — at' the 
bottom and not at the top. Do not let us attempt to 
put a roof on our patriotic structure before we have 
laid its foundation. For instance, flags on school- 
houses are most desirable, and the act of keeping 
them there timely ; but do not let us put them there 
at the dictation of an evanescent emotion, or to emu- 
late merely what may have been done by other 
schools, only to have them neglected and forgotten 
when the temporary excitement of the occasion has 
subsided. 

When every scholar has been filled with patriotic 
emotion, born of personal effort to secure a coveted 
reward ; when the heart of every child in the school 
has been touched with the fire of a high resolve, to 
gain some prize calculated to inspire emotions of 
patriotism; when the great objects for which gov- 
erments are instituted among men begin to dawn 



upon the inquisitive mind ; when, as each pupil, 
through daily contact with the material incentives 
I have named, becomes increasingly conscious of 
the inestimable value and dignity of American cit- 
izenship, and experiences a more or less ardent desire 
to be worthy of the high trusts and great responsi- 
bilities which it sees dimly shadowed forth in its 
future ; when irresistibly moved by such impulses 
and aspirations, it is ready and willing to make per- 
sonal sacrifices to secure what it greatly desires ; and 
when, having a clear knowledge and understanding 
of the real meaning of patriotism, the pent-up emo- 
tions and enthusiasm of the whole school can no 
longer be restrained, then gratify those desires, and 
the spirit which finds expression in a demand for 
the flag on the school-house, will abide in their hearts 
forever. 

The National Flag as a Reward and an Object 
Lesson. 

In considering the subject of patriotism from a 
philosophical point of view, I essayed to show that 
material rewards can be legitimately employed as 
incentives to endeavor, without producing injurious 
results in a moral sense, where the system followed 
was subordinated to the general pedagogic principle, 
that all methods used for developing the best traits 
of character in a child, should conform as closely as 
practicable to its mental, moral and physical charac- 
teristics and to its social environment ; and that the 
use of a system of rewards was only to be deprecated 
where an attempt was made — for whatever reason — 



10 

to govern the child by means of such devices alone, 
and to make them the most prominent feature in a 
system of discipline. My contention was, that if the 
rewards offered were of a character to excite only 
noble aspirations, such as by stimulating and 
strengthening the best impulses of the child, would 
turn it away from and weaken the influence of the 
mere sensuous elements of its nature, then indeed, 
their use was to be encouraged. 

What then, shall be the appropriate and most al- 
luring reward, in strict keeping and in full harmony 
with the end we desire to attain, by means of which 
we can, in the elementary stage of the child's train- 
ing, so arouse its emotions, so stimulate its pride, so 
appeal to its egoism, so cultivate every natural gift, 
that each mental faculty and physical power shall 
become engaged and enlisted in the struggle to 
secure the coveted prize ? That through this very 
struggle there shall be slowly but steadily developed 
in the course of the years of its pupilage, that in- 
dependence of thought and action ; that individu- 
ality — the outward and visible mark of self-reli- 
ance ; that self-control and its concomitant quality, 
self-respect; that freedom from pettiness of soul, 
that broad charity for the weakness or failings of 
its fellow men ; that innate sense of respect for the 
honest opinions of others ; that generosity born of 
noble impulses, and that large-heartedness which 
form the foundation of that character which pecu- 
liarly distinguishes the highest type of the Ameri- 
can citizen. 



11 

The particular reward which it is proposed to 
offer the individual child, the class and the school 
taken as a whole, and which as it seems to me ful- 
fills the desirable conditions, is the national flag •* of 
a size and mounting in keeping with the special 
use which it is intended shall be made of it. 

* For the information of those who may desire to trace the history of 
the national flag, the following references are given : 
In Congress, Saturday, June 14, 1777: * * * 
"Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen 
stripes, alternate red and white ; that the union be thirteen stars, white 
in a blue field, representing a new constellation." — Journals of the 
Continental Congress, vol. 3, page 194. 

In Congress, 13M of January, 1794, on the occasion of the admission 
of Vermont and Kentucky, it was enacted, "that from and after the 
first of May, Anno Domini seventeen hundred and ninety-four, the flag 
of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white ; that the 
union be fifteen stars, white on a blue field." — U. S. Statutes at Large. 
Vol. 1, page 341. 

See also, " Report of the Select Committee appointed on the 12th ulto. 
(12th December, 1816) to inquire into the expediency of altering the flag 
of the United States," dated January 2, 1817. — Report No. 23 in vol. 1, 
State Papers. 14IA Congress, 2d Session. (Astor Library, 1538 C.) 

Also, " Report of the Select Committee appointed on the 16th ultimo 
(16th December, 1817), to inquire into the expediency of altering the 
Flag of the United States," dated January 6, 1818. — Report No. 2,1 in 
vol. 2 of State Papers. [House Docs.] 15th Congress, 1st Session (Astor 
Library, 1538 C.) ; and Act April 4, 1818. U. S. Stat. Vol. 3, page 415. 

Also Report of the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was re- 
ferred the joint resolution proposing the thanks of Congress to Samuel 
C. Reid, late commander of the private armed brig " General Arm- 
strong," for having designed and formed the present flag of the United 
States," dated January 6, 1818. — Report No. 160 of Committee, H. R., 
35^ Congress, id Session. Vol. 1, (1S58-59.) 

Also, Our Flag, Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States 
of America. Geo. Henry Preble, U. S. N. 1872. 

Our National Flag and the Stars and Stripes; its History in a Century. 
Address before the N. Y. Historical Society, by Major-General Schuyler 
Hamilton. 1877. 



12 

Now there are two distinct forms or expressions 
of personal merit in every child's school life. 

i. Those desirable qualities or habits which 
taken as a whole, go to make up what we denomi- 
nate good conduct ; embracing punctuality, regular- 
ity of attendance, personal neatness and cleanliness, 
cheerfulness and evenness of temper, truthfulness, 
ready obedience to rules and instruction, respectful 
bearing toward superiors in knowledge and years, 
and studiousness ; the practice of each of which is an 
essential element in good citizenship ; and 

2. Superiority in scholarship. 

For reasons which will be presented in the proper 
connection, the rewards here proposed are to be given 
for good conduct exclusively. 

The Flag as a Reward. 
The nag is to be used as a reward as follows : 
i. In the form of a badge, worn on the person, 

as a mark of fitness for citizenship ; to be known as 

the Badge of Citizenship. 

2. Mounted on a staff and displayed for a speci- 
fied period on the desk of the best conducted pupil in 
each class ; to be known as The Scholar's Flag. 

3. Mounted on a staff and displayed for a speci- 
fied period in the class-room of the best conducted 
class ; to be known as The Class Flag. 

The Flag as a Symbol. 

The flag in its strictly emblematic character will 
be used as follows : 

4. Mounted on a staff in the form of an impos- 



13 



ing standard, representing the whole school ; to be 
carried by a chosen representative of the school on 
all occasions of ceremony, and to be known as The 
School Flag. 

5. Floating from a nag-staff placed on the school- 
house, or in the adjacent grounds, as a signal that 
the school is in session, and also as a sign of the 
loyalty of all the scholars to American principles 
and American institutions; to be known as The 
Signal Flag. 

The Flag as an Object Lesson. 

In addition to the opportunities which its special 
use as a reward and as a symbol will give for this pur- 
pose, I propose that, artistically grouped with an en- 
larged fac-simile of the arms of the United States 
stamped up in brass, it shall superpose a suitably 
framed fac-simile copy of the. Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, as now preserved in the Library of the 
Department of State at Washington. 

I will consider its use in this form, more in detail, 
when I come to speak of Logical or Intellectual 
Patriotism. 

1. The Badge of Citizenship. 

In treating of the philosophy of patriotic educa- 
tion, I stated that the public school in the United 
States might be very properly regarded as the nur- 
sery of the state, and the pupils as the wards of the 
nation. If this be true, it is pertinent to the object 
we have in view, to ask, how shall we best indicate 
in some positive and material manner, easily inter- 



14 

preted by tlie child, not only the intimate relation 
of this ward, as a member of civil society, to the 
nation, but at the same time present a visible proof 
to the world of its loyal allegiance to the sovereign 
power, of which it expects ultimately to form an in- 
tegral part. 

Manifestly, the two symbols of national power 
a:e the most appropriate emblems which can pos- 
sibly be selected for the purpose here indicated, and 
accordingly I have designed the badge, representa- 
tions of the three varieties of which are given here- 
with, which I designate as the " Badge of Citizen- 
ship" It is composed: i, of a fac-simile of the heral- 
dic arms of the United States, struck up in metal ; * 
2, of the national flag in miniature, woven in silk> 
the field end attached to a cross-bar, set at the back 
of the coat of arms plate; and 3, of an escutcheon 

*July 4, 1776. The Continental Congress, in Committee of the 
Whole, after ordering the authentication and printing of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, appointed Dr. Franklin and Messrs. Adams and 
Jefferson a committee to prepare a device for a seal for the United States 
of America. — {Journals of Congress, July 4, 1776. American Archives, 
4th series, vol. vi, page 1732. See also letter of Mr. John Adams to his 
wife, August 14, 1776. — American Archives, $th series, vol. i, p. 944.) 

August 20, 1776. The committee submitted a report with an explana- 
tion of same. — {Journals of Congress, vol. i, page 450.) 

June 20, 1782. The above device "for an armorial achievement and 
reverse of the great seal of the United States " was adopted by Con- 
gress. — {Journals of Congress, vol. iv, page 39.) 

September 15, 1789. Congress enacted, "That the seal heretofore 
used by the United States, in Congress assembled, shall be and hereby 
is declared to be the seal of the United States." — {Statutes at Large, 
vol. i, chap. 14, page 68.) 

Heraldic Description of the Great Seal of the United States. 
— Arms. — Pale.wise of thirteen pieces, argent and gules ; a chief, azure ; 



15 

or pendant struck up in metal, bearing on its face 
the legend, " The American Public School," per- 
manently attached to the lower edge of the minia- 
ture flag. 

I propose to have this badge prepared in three 
forms, appropriate to the position of the wearer in 
the public school-system, namely : 

i. For all pupils in the public schools, or in 
those supported in part by the State — without dis- 
tinction of age, color, religious faith or social condi- 
tion — the metal parts will be of solid bronze. 

2. For all teachers, of all grades, of public and 
normal schools — without distinction of term of 
service, color, religious faith or social standing — the 
metal parts are to be of silver. 

3. For all principals of public or normal schools, 
members and officers of Boards of School Trustees, 
or Boards of Education, and State and City Super- 
intendents, or Commissioners of Public Instruction — 
the metal parts will be of silver gilt. 



the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed, proper, 
holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister, a bundle 
of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with 
this motto : " E Pluribus Unum." 

For the Crest : over the head of the eagle, which appears above the 
escutcheon, a glory breaking through a cloud proper, and surrounding 
thirteen s'.ars, forming a constellation, argent, and on an azure field. 

Reverse. — A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, 
surrounded with a glory, proper. Over the eye, these words "Annuit 
Coeptis." On the base of the pyramid, the numerical letters mdcclxxvi, 
and underneath, the following motto: " Novus Ordo Seclorum." — 
{Memorandum from Adjutant-General' 's Office, War Department, Wash- 
ington, D. C, July 24, 1874.) 



1G 

This badge is to be regarded as the reward and 
the distinguishing mark of fitness for American 
citizenship. 

Since it is the great purpose and office of our 
public schools to maintain and perpetuate the integ- 
rity and inviolability of the fundamental principles 
on which the American State is founded, by assidu- 
ously cultivating the intelligence and strengthening 
the virtue of the rising generation, so may this badge 
come to be looked upon as the peculiar mark, the 
outward and visible sign of the fitness for American 
citizenship and of loyalty to those principles, of the 
cadets so nurtured and trained by the State ; not 
only in this metropolis, but wherever in this free 
land such schools are found ; whether it be among 
the pine-clad hills of Maine, in the orange groves 
of Florida, on the glacier-lined shores of Alaska, or 
the vine-clad slopes of California. 

When the thirteen millions of children now en- 
rolled, and the future millions to be enrolled, in the 
public schools of a people whose domain extends 
from the frozen seas of the Arctic to the torrid waters 
of the Mexican Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, have been so trained in patriotism, as to be 
found worthy to wear this badge ; proud to do so 
because they are grateful for the high privilege of 
having been educated under so beneficent a system, 
then there will be found to have grown up in our 
midst an American Legion of Honor, numbering 
its millions of truly patriotic men and women, a 
Legion which in due time shall constitute the 
noblesse oblige of American democracy. 



THE 

Badge of Citizenship. 

FOR SCHOLARS. 




H 














THE METAL PARTS IN 

SOLID BRONZE. 





17 

Regarding the use of this badge, the following 
are the rales I would suggest, as to what pupils are 
to wear it : 

Following the regulations now observed in the 
schools of this society and the various public schools 
of this city, governing the conditions under which 
good conduct tickets are awarded at stated times to 
the scholars, I propose that at the exercises held in 
your schools every Friday afternoon, upon any pub- 
lic, memorial or festal occasions, and especially in 
the public schools upon " Patriot's Day," * all those 
scholars who have become entitled to such tickets, 
by reason of a compliance with such conditions for 
the preceding week, or for such other specified time 
as may have been indicated previously by the Prin- 
cipal, and just prior to the commencement of such 
exercises, shall be decorated with this badge, by hav- 
ing their respective teachers attach it to the left side 
of their dresses or coats, and nearest — or over their 
hearts — for reasons, which should be carefully ex- 
plained to them. Great care should be taken to see 
that only those children are permitted to wear it, 
who, by their good conduct, have proved themselves 
worthy of the honor. Such scholars as are not en- 
titled to wear it, by reason of not having complied 
with the conditions under which it is awarded, are 
to be separated from the others, and when any 
marching is done are to be placed in the rear of 
their classes or of the moving column. 

The badge is to be worn during the continuance 

* A full explanation of this <; day " is given at page 



18 

of the exercises, and at their close will be removed 
by the teachers and properly cared for, for future 
use. 

A still further use of this badge will be considered 
on coming to speak in detail of the scholar's flag. 

Just here, I want to call your attention to the im- 
portance of exercising the greatest care and solici- 
tude in determining who among the doubtful ones 
are to wear these badges. You, who are brought in 
daily and hourly contact with children, well know 
how acutely they will feel any apparent neglect or 
injustice in a matter like this, which appeals with 
such force to their emotional nature and to the pride 
of every child in the school. You are here exercis- 
ing an enormous power for good ; I beg you, there- 
fore, in deciding such cases as I here refer to, to err 
on the side of mercy, and take into this game of 
playing at American citizenship all who can for any 
fair reason come in. 

2. The Scholar's Flag. 

I now come to the use of the flag mounted on a 
staff, as a reward to the individual scholar, for good 
conduct during one, or more than one school-day, as 
may be determined by the Principal. 

As a still further incentive to individual effort in 
the direction of good behavior, I propose that a 
small flag, suitably mounted and adapted to the age 
and school grading of the pupil, shall be offered as 
a reward to that scholar in each class who shall have 
proved itself, by its uniform good conduct and bear- 



,,--. . - - • ■ 



■MHHMUnWh|HWH|tfHHBHBnM| 



THE 



Badge of Citizenship. 

FOR TEACHERS. 




THE METAL PARTS IN 
WHITE METAL OR SILVER. 



19 

ing during a specific period of time, worthy to carry- 
it. In other words, the flag is to go to the " best" 
boy or girl in each class. 

In regard to the length of the term of probation 
necessary, in order to compete for and to obtain the 
reward, it seems to me that with young children at 
least, where there is a " morning exercise," or a formal 
opening of the school at the commencement of each 
school-day, as prescribed by the by-laws of the Board 
of Education for the public schools of this city, at 
which an opportunity is afforded to present and to sur- 
render this flag, a single school-day is more suitable 
and has advantages over a longer period ; since by this 
plan, every scholar in classes of ordinary size would 
have a fair chance to win it once in five or six weeks, 
a frequency of opportunity which would tend to in- 
crease the personal interest and emulation of all the 
pupils. There may, however, be circumstances 
which render such a plan inconvenient or impracti- 
cable, in which case these flags might be retained, 
say for a week, and surrendered and presented on 
Patriot's Day. These details should, I think, be 
left exclusively to the judgment of the Principal. 

Touching the particular method to be followed by 
the Principal, in presenting the flags to those who 
have won them by their exemplary conduct, as also 
the mode of surrendering the flag by the pupil at 
the termination of the period during which it is en- 
titled to carry it ; to the end that the ceremony may 
have an educating influence, as well in the direction 
of the art of expression, grace of movement and 



20 

gesture, and dignity of carriage and behavior, as in 
patriotism, and so be made as impressive and in- 
structive as possible, I throw out the following sug- 
gestions, only remarking, that in this as in all other 
exercises I shall describe, while adhering more or 
less closely to the letter of the instructions, both 
Principals and teachers should not for a moment 
forget, still less ignore, the great principles which 
they seek to impress and the spirit in which the de- 
tails of execution are to be carried out. 

The instant it is discovered that in either Prin- 
cipal or pupil there is a sense of weariness or ennui, 
or a disposition to execute the details of an exercise 
in a perfunctory manner, it is time to invest it with 
new and more attractive features, or to abolish it al- 
together. 

In such exercises as these, which are intended 
to excite the emotional nature mainly, it were 
worse than useless to continue to do that which car- 
ries with it neither heartiness nor sincerity. To 
reach and permanently touch the heart of the child 
in an endeavor to impart any kind of knowledge, 
the soul of the teacher, as I have already insisted, 
must be wholly enlisted, and he must show in every 
action and expression that he implicitly believes in 
the truth, or the necessity of that he is seeking to 
teach. As it is not desirable that the exercises I 
shall here outline shall be imposed by authority, 
but shall be voluntary on the part of both Principal 
and pupil, with the former must ultimately rest the 
responsibility for the success or the failure of this 
part of my method of teaching patriotism. 






■"■'■"' -•; 



Badge of Citizenship. 



FOR PRINCIPALS AND SCHOOL OFFICERS. 




THE METAL PARTS IN 
YELLOW METAL, SILVER GILT OR GOLD. 



21 

Returning to the subject of the flags, I would 
advise that they be of silk, if possible, on ac- 
count of their greater beauty, due to the softness and 
superior pliability of that material. They should 
be of three sizes, namely : 

a. For the smallest children in Kindergarten classes. 

Staff. Of straight-grained, well-seasoned 
white maple, or other light, strong wood ; 
three-eighths of an inch in diameter and 
twenty-four inches long; tipped with a 
wooden spear-head, covered with bronze leaf. 

Flag. Of Japanese silk. On the pike or staff,. 
eleven inches in width ; Fly, seventeen inches 
long ; the selvage edge well secured to the 
staff. 

b. For the smaller children in the four lower Pri- 
mary Grades. 

Staff. Of straight-grained, well-seasoned 

white maple, or other light, strong wood; 

three-eighths of an inch in diameter and. 

thiity-six inches long ; tipped with a wooden. 

spear-head, covered with silver leaf. 
Flag. Of Japanese s"ilk. On the pike, fifteen 

inches in width ; Fly, twenty-four inches 

long; the selvage edge well nailed to the 

staff with round-headed nails. 

c. For the older children in the two higher Primary 
Grades and in all the Grammar grades. 

Staff. Of straight-grained, well-seasoned 
white maple, or other light, strong wood; 



22 

fifteen thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter 
and four feet long; tipped with a wooden 
spear-head, covered with gold leaf. 
Flag. Of Japanese silk. On the pike, twenty- 
four inches in width ; Fly, thirty-six inches 
long; the selvage edge well nailed to the 
staff with ronnd-headed nails. 
The staffs should be covered with two coats of 

white varnish, to prevent their becoming soiled 

by frequent handling. 

How Presented and Surrendered. 

Assuming that the time in which the flags are to 
he competed for, and during which they are to be 
carried, is a single day, the prizes so won will be 
formally presented to each winner by the Principal 
of the school, in the presence of the assembled 
scholars, at the opening of the morning exercises 
on each school-day. 

The following suggestions for conducting the 
ceremony of surrendering and of presenting the 
flags are offered for the consideration and use of 
Principals. 

Immediately after the reading from the Scriptures, 
in the usual order of morning exercises, as prescribed 
in the public schools of this city, and at the direc- 
tion of the Principal, those scholars who for good 
conduct had been awarded the flags on the previous 
school-day, leave their seats and proceed with digni- 
fied steps to the front of the platform ; arranging 
themselves in line and facing: the class color-bearer 



and guard,* leaving room sufficient for the Principal 
to pass between the lines easily, each one holding 
his or her flag erect, supported by both hands, in 
front of the center of the body. The simple acts of 
leaving the seat, of moving forward to the position 
just indicated, the manner of holding and carrying 
the flag, and of surrendering it at the proper 
moment, can be made, if the Principal so choose, 
through an intelligent application of the principles 
of Delsarte, at once graceful and dignified in action, 
elevating in their influence on both actor and spec- 
tator, and in entire harmony with the great purpose 
and object we have in view in all these exercises, 
namely, that of impressing the child with a pro- 
found sense of the nobility and dignity of American 
citizenship. 

It is for the Principal, also, to be actuated by the 
same high purpose, to be touched with a strong 
sense of his responsibilities as a leader and precep- 
tor, and to indicate in every glance of the eye, in 
every gesture and tone of spoken word, the spirit 
which animates him, as he slowly moves along the 
front of the line, commencing on its right (his left) , 
and receives the flags one by one from each scholar ; 
pausing for an instant in front of each during the 
act of surrender, and uttering in a quiet tone a few 
words of commendation or encouragement to each 
child as it gracefully places the colors and the badge 
of citizenship in his hands. The Principal having 

* The position of this class color-bearer and guard will be clearly 
described in speaking of the Class Flag. See page 33. 



24 

collected all the flags ; at the command, the scholars 
return to their places in the same dignified manner 
in which they came forward. 

The Principal next announces the names of those 
scholars, who have been reported by their teachers 
as having distinguished themselves above their 
class-mates for good conduct and bearing during the 
previous school-day. 

As soon as the names are announced, the pupils 
so indicated will pass from their seats, in the same 
quiet and dignified way as did their predecessors, to 
the front of the platform and place themselves in 
line fronting the class color-bearer and guard. The 
Principal, accompanied by one of the color-guard 
detailed to carry the flags, will then pass along the 
line of honor pupils, starting on its right. Pausing 
in front of the first scholar, and taking a flag from 
the color-guard appropriate to the pupil's grade, he 
will place it in the latter' s hands, and will next de- 
corate the* scholar with the bronze badge of citizen- 
ship in the manner already explained, accompany- 
ing the act with a kindly word of praise or caution, 
as may seem appropriate in each case. The flags 
and badges having all been distributed and the cere- 
mony being concluded, at the command of the Prin- 
cipal, the honor pupils will return to their seats 
bearing their flags with them. 

The flag so earned, will be carried by the recipi- 
ent in any school or public exercises taking place 
during the current school-day. When not in use it 
will stand erect on the scholar's desk in a suitable 



25 

socket,* as the distinguishing mark for that day, of 
the best citizen in the class, instantly recognizable by 
every visitor. 

Bach scholar receiving the badge will wear it for 
the remainder of the day, and will be permitted to 
take it to his home, wearing it to school the next 
morning. Before surrendering his flag at the morn- 
ing exercise, as has been described, he (or she) will 
remove the badge, ready to be placed in the hands of 
the Principal at the moment of handing him the 
flag. 

As has been previously remarked, these flags and 
badges are to be used solely as rewards for good 
citizenship and not as prizes for good scholarship. 

To introduce intellectual superiority as an element 
to be considered in the question of selection, would, 
as it appears to me, be quite as inconsistent with 
democratic principles, quite as un-American, as to 
make a particular nationality or religious creed, or 
the possession of a certain amount of property by 
the child's parents a sine qua non. If we under- 
take to make the possession of the flag the mark of 
a good citizen, it behooves us to conform strictly in 
our practice to the constitutional definition of a 
citizen.f 

* Suitable sockets of ornamented cast-iron, adapted to the present 
form of school-desks are now being manufactured for this purpose. 

f Constitution of the United States. Article XlV. Section i. All 
persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State 
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which 
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 



26 

j. The Class Flag. 

We now come to the use of the flag as a reward 
to that class which the record of the preceding 
week proved to be pre-eminent for punctuality and 
attendance. 

The effect on the child of its efforts to secure the 
flag and to be regarded by its companions and 
teachers as fitted to become a good American citizen, 
cannot but be salutary.* Insensibly to itself, as has 
already been explained, it has begun to learn how 
to measure its own powers ; it has been taught a 
modicum of self-restraint, it has taken the first step 
towards governing itself. With such knowledge 
comes self-respect, and hence it is in every sense 
better fitted to become a member of a group com- 

States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or prop- 
erty without due process of law ; nor deny to any person within its 
jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. — Strander v. West Virginia, 
ioo U. S., 303 ; Virginia <u. Rivers, 100 U. 5., 313 ; Ex parte Virginia, 
100 U. S., 339 ; Missouri v. Lewis, 101 U. S., 22 ; Civil Rights Cases, 
109 U. S., 3 ; Louisiana v. New Orleans, 109 U. S., 285 ; Hurtado v. 
California, no U. S., 516; Hager v. Reclamation Dist., in U. S., 701. 

*The plan just sketched for using the flag as a reward for individual 
good conduct has recently been tried in two schools of the Children's 
Aid Society with the most marked success. In one of these schools 
(West side) the Principal informed me that heretofore on the day 
following a general election, one-third and even one-half of her 
pupils were tardy or absent, whereas on the day after the last election, 
November 6, 1889 — the use of the flag as a reward having been intro- 
duced about a week before — nearly every child was in its place at 
9 A. M. At the other school (Italian, West side), a little girl, who for 
a year before had never been punctual, came at 8:30 A. M., soon after 
the inauguration of the plan of giving the flag as a reward for good 
conduct, to inquire of the Principal whether, if she came every morning 
at 8:30 A. m., she could carry the flag. 



27 

posed of others like itself, and to act in harmony 
with its associates, organized as a class, than it ever 
was before. 

Such is one part of that mental and moral disci- 
pline, which, if steadily imposed, is to make the 
child a useful and honored member of society. 

I would recommend that at this stage of the 
child's training in patriotism, this point be enlarged 
upon and be made quite clear to its mind by its 
teacher ; so that it will gradually come to under- 
stand the nature of the change wrought in its. 
thoughts, its desires and its habits, as its knowledge 
increases, and that this process is what is under- 
stood as character-building. 

Applying the lessons so taught, we are now the 
better prepared to pass to the next stage of develop- 
ment in this method of training for citizenship, and 
consider its usefulness in promoting the interest of 
a class in patriotism, by reason of this very trained 
and strengthened character of its several members.. 

The practical application of this idea of using the 
national colors as a reward for the class, which dur- 
ing the preceding week had the highest mark for 
punctuality and attendance, originated with and was. 
first introduced into the public schools of this city 
by Colonel De Witt C. Ward, one of the School In- 
spectors of the Seventh District, to the successful 
results of whose patriotic labors for the past seven 
years allusion has already been made.* 

A handsome national flag of silk, suitably 

* Part First, pp. 76, 77. 



28 

mounted, and surmounted by a gilded brass eagle, 
to distinguish it from those given for individual 
merit, is presented to the school by one or more 
friends, to be used as a reward in the manner herein- 
after described. 

The following is a description of the flag I pro- 
pose shall be known as the " Class Flag" : 

Staff. Of straight-grained white ash, oil pol- 
ished, seven-eighths of an inch in diameter 
and six feet six inches long; surmounted 
by an eagle, of sheet brass, gilded, spread of 
wings seven inches; a plain brass socket 
ferrule at the lower end. 

FLAG. Of best Japanese silk; on the pike, 
thirty-two inches in width ; Fly, forty-eight 
inches long; with forty-two stars in the 
Union. 

Staff Socket. Of cast-iron, with wrought- 
iron stem of one-inch gas-pipe, ten inches 
high; the whole well japanned; one socket 
to accompany each flag and staff. 

At the opening exercises on Monday morning, 
the Principal will announce to the assembled school 
the name or designation of that class which during 
the previous week obtained the highest mark for 
punctuality and attendance. The class having been 
thus designated, the next step is to select a stand- 
ard-bearer to carry the class colors and represent 
the class in all exercises in which the flag is to 
appear. 



29 

As a still further incentive to good conduct on 
the part of each scholar, it should be made an in- 
dispensable condition attached to the office, that no 
member of the class shall be considered as qualified 
for the position, or eligible for election, unless such 
member shall have been awarded a Scholar's 
Flag at least once during the four school weeks 
preceding the day of such election. 

In the Grammar Schools the duty of selecting a 
standard-bearer will devolve upon the members of 
the class winning the flag. 

At the next noon recess after the announcement 
of the award, such members as are present will pro- 
ceed to vote, by ballot, for that one of their number, 
who being eligible, is in their opinion most worthy 
of this honor. The candidate receiving a majority 
of all the ballots cast is to be declared elected ; the 
several members of the class thus exercising in 
this mode of selection one of the fundamental 
rights of American citizenship, namely, that of the 
suffrage as applied to representation ; a right as 
our forefathers expressed it, in the Declaration of 
July 4th, 1776, " inestimable to them and formid- 
able to tyrants only." 

In the Primary and the Industrial Schools, in 
which the children are usually quite young, the 
standard-bearer would ordinarily be selected by the 
Principal ; nevertheless, whenever the age of the 
pupils will admit of it, the plan of permitting the 
class to elect its color-bearer should be followed ; for 
the very cogent reason that an opportunity is here 



30 

presented to inculcate in the mind of the child, one 
of the fundamental principles which characterize 
our political system, namely, that "Governments 
derive their just powers from the consent of the 
governed," as is indicated by the action of the people 
when permitted to choose their own representatives. 

Whether the standard-bearer be elected or se- 
lected, it should be clearly understood by the school 
that whoever carries the nag, represents the class; 
and that to be such representative, and carry the 
national colors, ranks among the highest honors in 
the gift of the class. 

The class representative having been thus chosen, 
commencing on Tuesday morning, he or she car- 
ries the flag daily at the " morning exercises," 
standing in front of the Principal's desk and facing 
the assembled school ; except on the first school- 
day of each calendar month and on Patriot's Day, 
on which occasions the School Flag will take the 
place of the Class Flag. 

At all public exercises in which the school takes 
a part, the banner class takes precedence of all 
others, leading the column in all marching, the 
colors at the front. 

During the school-day, and so long as held, the 
flag will be displayed in the room occupied per- 
manently by the class into whose possession it has 
come, standing erect in its socket by the side of the 
standard-bearer's desk, thus instantly telling its 
story to every visitor. 

In large schools, where there will be five or more 



31 

classes competing for the flag, I would recommend 
as a still further inducement to punctuality and un- 
broken attendance among the scholars, that a 
" Color Guard" be organized,* to be composed of a 
single representative from each of the two, or the 
four classes, which during the preceding week ranked 
next to the one having the highest mark for punct- 
uality and attendance. 

The merit of this plan lies in its admitting a 
larger number of pupils to the privilege and honor 
of guarding the flag, as well as binding the classes 
more closely together, by reason of all their members 
being animated by a common interest and friendly 
emulation to excel in good conduct. The effect of 
which must be necessarily, to stimulate all the 
classes to greater exertions than before to attain 
the foremost place. Furthermore, in the absence of 
the standard-bearer from any cause, there will be a 
substitute always on hand to act in his place and 
perform his duties. 

It has been suggested that the color-guard should 
be composed of the best scholars, as a reward for- 
their superior scholarship. I do not favor any such 
idea, for reasons already given in connection with 
the use of the flag as a reward for individual good 
citizenship. Such a plan would narrow the signifi- 
cance of the whole project, it would give to those 

* The Color Guard should.have an even number of members, to admit 
of either one or two standing on each side of the color-bearer when the 
guard is drawn up in line. Schools with from five to ten classes might 
have two ; those with from eleven to twenty-five classes, four ; and those 
with more than twenty-five classes, six pupils in the guard. 



32 

who are intellectually strong an undue advantage 
over those who are intellectually inferior, The 
integrity, the reputation and the honor of the nation 
are intrusted to, and are upheld and maintained by 
the whole body of the people, without regard to their 
intellectual attainments, and not alone by the most 
cultivated or the most learned. 

The American idea is perfect equality of all citi- 
zens, before the law. Let us, therefore, accord to 
every child, without regard to the accidents of birth 
or endowments, an equal right to a place of honor 
as a guardian and defender of the flag. 

In the presence of the symbol of the nation, let 
all stand on a common footing. 

Salutation of the Class Flag by the Assembled 
School at the Morning Exercises. 

Since there is nothing which impresses the youth- 
ful mind and excites its emotions more forcibly 
or permanently than the observance of form and 
ceremony, particularly where, while it adds dignity 
to the occasion, its object is clearly understood and 
acknowledged to be fitting and appropriate ; I would 
make use of this fact to give an added interest and 
importance to the use here made of the national 
ensign, and by means of a brief but most impres- 
sive act, repeated day after day, cultivate in the 
heart of every pupil a profound respect and venera- 
tion for the national sovereignity and power which 
our country's ensign symbolizes. 

Accordingly, at the morning exercises, when the 



33 

Class Flag, borne by the standard-bearer and escorted 
by trie color-guard, is brought into the presence of 
the assembled school, it is to be saluted by the 
scholars in the manner following : 

The nine o'clock signal for the assembling of the 
school in its assembly-room having been given, the 
scholars massed in the adjacent halls and passages, 
march by music to their respective places, and being 
seated, the first duty in order, namely, the morning 
salutation of the Principal by the whole body of 
pupils, is performed. 

Immediately thereafter, at a signal on the bell 
from the Principal, the standard-bearer, with the 
flag unfurled, accompanied by the color-guard 
marching behind him — they having previously 
taken a position on the left of the Principal's plat- 
form — advances with the guard to the open space 
directly in front of the Principal's desk and takes 
up a position facing the school ; the color-guard 
being equally disposed on either side of the colors 
on a line with the color-bearer, elbows gently 
touching. 

If there should be in the school either a boy or 
girl who can drum, or play on the fife, the bugle, 
the horn or the cornet, I would have them present 
to assist in the ceremony, in this wise. 

At the moment that the color-bearer and guard 
take up their temporary position at the left of the 
Principal's platform, the drummer, or wind-instru- 
ment player, will assume a corresponding position 
on the right of the platform, and upon the signal 



3J: 

to advance being given, will move to the front of 
the platform and take a position facing the school, 
on the right of the guard and two paces distant 
therefrom. 

Thereupon, at a second signal, the whole school 
will rise, and after a brief pause, until the utmost 
stillness reigns, at the command, " Salute the flag ! " 
given by the Principal in a clear voice and a de- 
liberate manner, each scholar — raising the extended 
right hand to the forehead (palm down) , in unison 
with a like movement by the Principal — will salute 
the flag in military fashion. 

Simultaneously with this movement, and in ac- 
knowledgment of the salute, the standard-bearer 
will slowly and gracefully dip the colors, while the 
drummer beats three long rolls or the wind-instru- 
ment player performs a flourish.* 

* Since this address was delivered, the following order, conceived in 
the same spirit which marks the ceremony above described, has been 
issued by the Secretary of the Navy : 

Navy Department, Washington, July 26, 1889. 
General Orders, No. 374 : 

In order to insure uniformity, the following routine will be observed 
at morning and evening colors on board of all men-of-war in com- 
mission and at all Naval Stations. When a band is present it will 
play— 

At morning colors : "The Star Spangled Banner." 
At evening colors : " Hail Columbia." 

All persons present belonging to the Navy, not so employed as to 
render it impracticable, will please face towards the colors and salute as 
the ensign reaches the peak or truck in hoisting, or the taffrail or 
ground in hauling down. 

B. F. Tracy, 

Secretary of A T azy. 



35 

In making the salute the hand should not drop 
from the forehead until the music has ceased ; the 
hand of each scholar falling in unison with that of 
the Principal. Following the principles of Delsarte, 
the movement of the hand and arm in making this 
salute should be on easy and graceful lines. I rec- 
ommend that Principals study this point and have 
the scholars practice this motion with these princi- 
ples in view. 

By this act the school acknowledges its loyal alle- 
giance to the authority of, and signifies its profound 
respect for the American Nation, of which the star 
spangled banner is the visible emblem and symbol. 

Another signal, and the scholars resume their 
seats ; the standard-bearer, with the flag displayed, 
guard and music remaining in their places during 
the remainder of the exercises ; at the close of which 
the music retires, while the guard — in accordance 
with military courtesy — accompanies the colors to 
the door of the class-room where they are to remain 
through the day. To avoid the fatigue incident to 
carrying the flag during the progress of the exer- 
cises, the lower end of the flag-staff will be allowed 
to rest on the floor, the staff being held vertical by 
the right hand of the color-bearer. 

At the close of the school-day it will be the last 
duty of the color-bearer to roll the flag on its staff, 
place it in its cover * to protect it from dust and in- 
jury, and then put it in some place of security pre- 
pared for it. 

* These covers should be of brown linen, made to slip over the eagle, 
and tie just below the lower edge of the flag when rolled on the staff. 



4. The School Flag. 

Thus far in my subject I have treated only of 
the individual scholar and of the class in their rela- 
tion to the sentiment of patriotism. So far as that 
sentiment concerns the individual child, I have ex- 
plained the method proposed of using the flag as a 
mark or badge of citizenship, and for rewarding 
personal good conduct with the Scholar's Flag. 

Touching the relation of this sentiment to the 
class, I have illustrated how a most essential fea- 
ture of meritorious behavior on the part of this 
collective unit may be rewarded with the Class 
Flag. Following the order of argument we have 
adopted, of passing from the consideration of the 
lesser to the greater, in accordance with the law of 
development, we now come to the examination of 
the relation of the sentiment of patriotism, to that 
aggregation of classes — to the classes taken as a 
unit — which we call a school. 

Henry Ward Beecher has told us in that im- 
pressive and most noble utterance of his in 1861, 
spoken amidst the heat and high excitement of the 
struggle to preserve our national life — words I have 
taken as the key-note and inspiration for this divis- 
ion of my subject — what the national flag means, 
what it stands for, what it is. 

What he says of the relation of this ensign to 
the nation, I say of the relation of that ensign to 
the school. 

The School Flag means, then, the practical appli- 
cation of the principles of the Declaration to the 



37 

training of yonth ; it means education for citizen- 
ship of the children, not alone of the masses, not 
alone of the classes, but of the whole body of the 
people, without distinction of race, or color, or reli- 
gion, or creed, or social opportunities. It means 
that American citizenship is not the prerogative of 
high social caste, nor the superlative privilege of a 
"higher" or governing class, nor the exclusive 
earthly reward of believers in a particular form of 
religion, but is a right, a privilege and a reward for 
all those who acknowledge allegiance to, and are 
thoroughly loyal to the Constitution of the United 
States and to the laws of the Union. 

It means that the gates of the Temple of Knowl- 
edge, like those of the Temple of Janus in ancient 
Rome, are in these United States ever wide open, 
so long as war is to be waged against ignorance, 
superstition, bigotry, intolerance, vice, crime, and 
all the evils which afflict society. It means eman- 
cipation from the rude thraldom of uneducated 
bodily powers ; it means liberty of thought, intel- 
lectual freedom, social advancement, physical, moral 
and spiritual regeneration. 

This flag, then, stands for education — wide, 
broad, liberal education; the cultivation of every 
sense, the development of every gift, the training 
of every faculty, the utilization of the whole body,, 
of the whole intellect, of the whole man, so that his 
soul shall shine through every movement, expres- 
sion and utterance of his material being. It stands 
for that system of public education which forty-two 



38 

States of this Union have embedded in their organic 
law ; a system, imperfect, it may be, as all finite 
■work must inevitably be, but, nevertheless, a system 
grandly framed for great and most noble ends. 

The School Flag, therefore, symbolizes the pub- 
lic-school system of our common country, and for 
that, if for no other reason, we pay it our profound- 
est homage and respect. 

As used by a single school, then, in the symbolic 
sense here intended, the School Flag represents the 
whole body of children under instruction — the 
school as a unit, as an entity ; so employed, it 
bears the same relation to the school as an organ- 
ized body, that a regimental flag in the United 
States Army bears to the entire regiment, having no 
regard to the nature of its component parts. 

This ensign is to be used on all festal occasions, 
on all occasions of ceremony, whenever the school 
appears as a body in public, and particularly on 
ii Patriot's Day." It should occupy at such times 
the most prominent and conspicuous place, where 
it can be seen by every child, that it may form the 
center of attraction — the rallying-point for every 
loyal heart. 

I propose that this standard shall be modelled 
and mounted, so far as material, shape, dimensions 
and style are concerned, after the flags supplied to 
infantry and artillery regiments in the United 
States Army, but not necessarily of the same size 
and weight. It requires a well-built and physically 
.strong man to carry a regimental color, and hence 



39 

we must in this matter pay some regard to the size 
and strength of the children who are to carry these 
flags. To meet this necessity I have chosen the 
dimensions here given; one size being adapted to 
the age and strength of the older children in the 
Primary Departments, or Schools ; a second, to that 
of the older scholars in the Grammar Departments 
and Schools ; and the third, to that of the more 
mature students in the High or Normal Schools. 
The descriptions of these flags are as follows : 

For Primary Schools. 

Staff. Of best white ash, oil polished ; one 
inch in diameter and seven feet six inches 
long, a brass socket and ferrule on the lower 
end; on the upper end, an eagle in sheet 
brass, gilt ; spread of wings, seven inches. 

Flag. Of best banner silk ; on the pike, 
forty-two inches in width. Fly, forty-eight 
inches long, with thirteen horizontal stripes 
of red and white alternating, beginning with 
red. Union. In the upper quarter, next the 
staff, composed of a number of white stars 
eqtial to the number of States in the Union, 
set in a blue field of seamless banner silk. To 
be twenty inches long on the fly, and extend- 
ing downwards to the lower edge of the fourth 
red stripe from the top. In case cords and 
tassels are used with the flag, they will be of 
blue and white silk intermixed. 

Name. The name of the school should be em- 



40 

broidered in white silk on the center stripe 
of red, thus: "Primary School No. 28 " or 
" Lincoln Primary School." 

For Grammar Schools. 

Staff. Of best white ash, oil polished ; one 
inch and one-eighth in diameter and eight 
feet four inches long> a brass socket and fer- 
rule fitted on lower end ; on upper end an 
eagle in sheet brass, gilt ; spread of wings 
seven inches. 
Flag. Of best banner silk ; on the pike, 
forty-eight inches in width. Fly, fifty-four 
inches long, with thirteen horizontal stripes 
of red and white alternating, beginning with 
the red. Union. In the upper quarter, next 
the staff, composed of a number of white 
stars equal to the number of States in the 
Union, set in a blue field of seamless banner 
silk. To be twenty-two inches long on the 
fly and extending downward to the lower edge 
of the fourth red stripe from the top. In 
case cords and tassels are used with the flag, 
they will be of scarlet and yellow silk inter- 
mixed. 
Name. The name of the school should be em- 
broidered in yellow silk on the center stripe 
of red, thus : " Grammar School No. jj" or 
" Boylston Grammar School." 

For High and Normal Schools. 

Staff Of best white ash, varnished and pol- 
ished ; one inch and one-eighth in diameter 



41 

and nine feet two inches long ; a brass socket 
and ferrule fitted to the lower end ; on the 
upper end an eagle in sheet brass, gilt ; spread 
of wings, seven inches. 
Flag. Of best banner silk; on the pike, 
sixty inches wide. Fly, sixty-five inches 
long, with thirteen horizontal stripes of red 
and white alternating, begining with the red. 
Union. In the upper quarter, next the staff, 
composed of a number of white stars equal 
to the number of States, set in a blue field 
of seamless banner silk. To be twenty-six 
inches long on the fly and extending down- 
ward to the lower edge of the fourth stripe 
of red from the top. Cords and tassels, crim- 
son and yellow silk intermixed. 
Name. The name of the school should be em- 
broidered in crimson silk on the white stripe 
next below the center stripe of red, thus : 
"Putnam High School" or " Cortland Nor- 
mal School." 
These flags, both on account of their cost, as well 
as the object for which they are procured, are worthy 
of the best of care. When not in use, therefore, 
they should be neatly rolled on their staffs and pro- 
tected by a glazed or oil-cloth cover drawn over both 
eagle and flag, gathered and tied at the lower end. 

Whether we regard it from a patriotic stand-point, 
or from a narrower and even a purely selfish point 
of view, I am convinced that the friends of educa- 
tion, and particularly the parents of scholars attend- 
ing a school, can nowhere find a more worthy or 



42 

more appropriate object for the exercise of their 
generosity than that of assisting to provide one of 
the flags just described for that school in which they 
are personally interested. I say it without the 
slightest hesitation, that no investment of their 
money will in the long run pay nearly as well. 
Were all citizens good citizens, or indeed half as 
good as the model I have drawn in this address, 
there would be but little need for either police, courts 
or prisons. A very little statistical research will 
show that the expense which organized society is 
put to, in order to defend itself against the evil and 
destructive effects of ignorance, vice, and crime, far 
exceeds all other forms of taxation. No tax-levy 
gives so enormous a return as that laid for educa- 
tion. * 

* Statement Showing the Annual Appropriations for the Enforce- 
ment of Law and for Public Education in the Municipal 
Government of the City of New York for the Calendar 
Year 1889. 

The Enforcement of Law. 

Departments. Amounts. 

The Law Department $216,544 00 

The Department of Public Charities and Corrections 2,190,050 00 

The Police Department .... 4,409,550 94 

Salaries — City Courts 351,900 00 

Salaries — The Judiciary 1,087, 550 00 

The Sheriff's Office 65,70000 

Asylums, Reformatories, and Charitable Institutions 1,142,132 61 

Cost of the enforcement of Law $9,470,427 55 

Public Education. 

The Board of Education, for Public Instruction $4,079,008 86 

The College of the City of New York 146,600 00 

The Normal College 118, 500 00 

Cost of Public Education $4,344,008 86 

The amount appropriated for P ublic Education is 45.8 per cent, of that 
appropriated for the enforcement of Lain. 



43 

Therefore, I say, wlien the children or the pupils 
in any school, after having had a few months' ex- 
perience in the use of the " Scholar's " and the 
" Class " flag, begin to understand what true patriot- 
ism means, and seek to give expression to the en- 
thusiasm which their use has aroused, then let their 
friends come forward in a body and make the busi- 
ness of procuring a " School Flag " a public affair. 
The collection of the necessary funds, the selection 
of the flag, and all the other details incidental to 
the matter, will be as interesting and profitable to 
the participants as the friendly struggle for the 
Scholars' or Class Flag has been beneficial to the 
pupils; and I feel assured that after experiencing 
the enthusiasm which such a public-spirited spec- 
tacle will arouse, no one will ever regret any part 
he or she may have taken in it. The presentation 
of such a flag should be made the occasion of an 
era of good feeling in the whole community. What- 
ever our politics may be, we are first of all and 
above all, loyal Americans, and next to uniting for 
defense against an armed invasion of our country, 
is the act of uniting against ignorance and all its 
concomitant evils — against the enemies of society 
and social order — in the name of patriotic educa- 
tion. 

The practice of Posts of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, composed as is this organization exclu- 
sively of veterans of the war of the Rebellion, of 
presenting to the public schools in this city and 
throughout the State as well, handsome national 



44 

flags, has — as has been shown by the record given 
in Part First — become quite general within the last 
two years. The number of such presentations, 
which were made to public schools in this city last 
year, clearly indicate the depth and sincerity of the 
popular feeling on this subject. I can conceive of 
no public act more appropriate and timely than that 
of the veterans of the war, as the surviving repre- 
sentatives of that grand army of more that a million 
of men, by whose fortitude, courage, and valor the 
union of these States was preserved as a precious 
heritage for their children, thus coming forward in 
their declining years, bearing gifts of national flags 
to the children of the public schools — the wards of 
the State, to remind them not only of what they owe 
to that grand army of 1 861-1865, but what an in- 
estimable legacy of freedom and liberty this flag 
represents, and under what weighty obligations 
these gifts place these youths, who are to be at no 
distant day in their turn, the conservators of these 
grand principles and the defenders of this land of 
their birth, or of their adoption. 

In describing the three sizes of the School Flag, 
mention was made of having the name of the school 
embroidered on its flag. As embroidery is an art 
particularly adapted to the ability and aesthetic 
taste of young girls, and in which many are quite 
skillful, I would suggest that in every school in which 
there are girls, the work of executing the embroid- 
ery of the name be placed in the hands of a com- 
mittee of the most competent pupils. In boys' 



45 

grammar schools, a committee of boys might be ap- 
pointed to wait upon the Principal of the nearest 
girls' grammar school to solicit the aid of the girls 
in the matter of thus lettering their flag ; the boys 
rendering the girls some equivalent favor. Having 
a subject of national interest in common, the asso- 
ciation under such circumstances, would be bene- 
ficial to both sexes. Nothing could be more human- 
izing or more promotive of patriotic feeling than 
these social amenities. They should find a place in 
every school. 

Assuming that a school has come into possession 
of such a flag as has just been described, the points 
connected with its use to be considered primarily, 
are : What shall be the qualifications of the stand- 
ard-bearer? For what length of time shall he be 
charged with such duty, and under what conditions 
shall he be elected ? — that is to say, the first question 
to be decided is the eligibility of the candidates ; the 
next, their term of office ; and lastly, the mode of 
electing them. 

Regarding eligibility, it appears to me, that if we 
would make our practice entirely consistent with the 
principle already laid down of rewarding good con- 
duct — that is, of rewarding exceptional merit as re- 
gards qualifications for citizenship — the selection of 
candidates for the office of color-bearer for the School 
Flag should be confined exclusively to those pupils 
who have been class color-bearers. All will agree 
that the highest honors should be conferred and the 
greatest responsibilities imposed upon those who in 



46 

similar positions of public trust have proved them- 
selves worthy of the confidence and respect of their 
associates ; and hence it is fair and reasonable to 
assume, that those scholars, whom the deliberate 
judgment of each class has pronounced best fitted 
to represent it, will be the ones of all the pupils, who 
would most creditably represent, and do the most 
honor to the school as a whole. Such a limitation 
of the candidacy would be in perfect harmony with 
both the theory and practice of American principles 
and American institutions. 

Coming next to the question of the length of the 
term of office, we have seen that in the case of the 
Scholar's Flag, representing as that flag does, the 
merits of but a single individual, the time for which 
it can be held by the winner must necessarily be 
brief; both because of the number of individuals 
who will be constantly competing for it, whose 
equitable rights must be regarded, and that in 
accordance with one of the fundamental principles 
on which civil society is based, the interests of a 
single individual must ever be subordinate to the 
general interest of the great body of individuals 
which compose society at large. 

Hence it is that the Class Flag, representing as it 
does a body of individuals, has a far greater signifi- 
cance than the Scholar's Flag. A significance which, 
so far as the honor and responsibility of bearing it 
are concerned, is measured by the increased length 
of time during which the bearer is charged with its 
care. In other words, with every increase in the 



47 

number of persons whose interests and rights the 
flag stands for, comes a corresponding increase in the 
honor and dignity with which the standard-bearer's 
office is invested. 

Extending the application of this principle to the 
interests of the school taken as a whole, it is 
eminently wise and proper that the term of office of 
the bearer of the School Flag should be still longer 
than that of the bearer of the Class Flag; and 
accordingly, in order that the period during which 
the care of the School Flag is committed to a single 
scholar, shall be commensurate with the importance 
of the representation and the responsibilities of the 
trust, the term of office for the bearer of this Flag 
should be, in my opinion, not less than a calendar 
month. As to the mode of electing this officer, I sub- 
mit for your consideration the following suggestive 
outline of the course to be pursued ; premising, that 
we should constantly bear in mind that we are now 
about to give these children lessons in the elements 
of civil government, according to the forms and 
usages most consonant with the spirit of our Amer- 
ican institutions ; namely, that all citizens, according 
to the definition of citizenship just given,* stand on 
an equal footing before the law, and that all are 
equally responsible for the character and conduct of 
those of their number, to whom, through the medium 
of the ballot, public trusts, public duties and their 
attendant responsibilities are committed. Here, you 
will perceive, is an admirable opportunity to bring 

See page 25. 



48 

into play that deep sense of justice and desire for 
equitable dealing, that independence of thought, that 
freedom of the mental powers, which, coupled with a 
clear knowledge of the merits of the question to be 
decided, constitute the only solid ground-work upon 
which an unbiassed and correct judgment can be 
based. This is the kind of training which forms the 
true source of that self-reliance, to which I have re- 
peatedly referred as one of the prominent, and to my 
mind one of the most commendable traits of the 
American character. A trait which will be empha- 
sized and strengthened, just in proportion as the 
education you give these children is founded upon 
sound principles, is thorough in its details, broad, 
liberal and yet practical in its aims, and noble in 
its aspirations. 

In accordance with the precedent already estab- 
lished in the case of the Class Flag, and in harmony 
with the great political principle first formulated in 
the Declaration of Independence, " That governments 
derive their just powers from the consent of the 
governed," the bearer of ' the School Flag should be 
chosen by a majority of all the pupils in the school. 
Upon this question every scholar on the rolls, no 
matter what its age, should have the right accorded 
to it of indicating its choice. Here is an opportunity 
for practical training and correct instruction in one 
American institution at least — universal suffrage — 
which ought not to be neglected. The decision of 
the school as regards its choice of a representative 
should be expressed through the ballot. The elec- 
tion should be held on the day next preceding the last 



49 

school-day of the month, next before that during 
which the standard-bearer is to hold office. 

In order that the election shall not in any way 
interfere with the regular duties of the school, and 
that it may be conducted in a perfectly orderly and 
becoming manner, it should take place on the day 
named, after the dismissal of the school, at an hour 
to be announced by the Principal. 

The ballot-box will be placed in charge of from 
two to sys. Judges of Election, according to the size 
of the school,* which Judges are to be selected by the 
Principal from among the teachers, at least ten days 
prior to the day on which the election is to be held. 
Upon being selected their names will be announced 
to the school at the next morning exercise, and will 
be posted on the bulletin-board as hereinafter pre- 
scribed for the candidates. 

* The importance of the duties here assigned to the Judges of Election 
and their onerous character can be better understood and appreciated, 
when we consider what it will be to receive and canvass the ballots of 
from 200 to 1,600 children, whose numbers in many of the Primary 
Departments or Grammar Schools in this city fall within these limits. 
Here again is an opportunity for the introduction of orderly methods for 
enabling the voters to deposit their ballots rapidly, for skillful manage- 
ment of large numbers, without confusion or noise, and in numerous 
other directions for the display of ability in organization and adminis- 
tration, rarely to be met with; but through the medium of which, lessons 
in self-restraint, in self-government as well as in civil government and 
citizenship, of inestimable value, can be impressed on the pupils, which 
they will never forget. 

In schools in which the Principal is the only teacher, I would suggest 
that he appoint two of the most intelligent and best behaved pupils to 
act as Judges ; in schools or departments of 150 pupils or less, there 
should be if possible, two Judges ; in those numbering from 150 to 500 
pupils three Judges ; in those with from 500 to 800, four Judges ; in those 
with 800 to 1,200, five Judges ; and in those with 1,200 or over, six 
Judges. 



50 

The duties of the Judges will be, to see that the 
polls are duly opened and closed at the place and at 
the times prescribed by the Principal ; to provide a 
proper box or other receptacle for the ballots ; to 
maintain perfect order during the voting ; to see that 
every child has a fair opportunity to express its 
wishes through the medium of its ballot ; to count 
the ballots, ascertain the result, and make an official 
report of the same in writing to the Principal. 

Ten days prior to the day on which the election is 
to be held, the name of each candidate for the office 
of school standard-bearer * will be submitted to the 
Principal by the friends of each candidate, through 
the medium of a letter prepared according to the 
following form : f 

New York, May 18, 1889. 
Mr. Edward A. Page, 

Principal Boys' Department, 

Grammar School No. 77 .• 
Dear Sir : 

We have the honor to present for your con- 
sideration and approval, the name of Charles 
Brown, of class A-2, as a candidate for the office of 
school standard-bearer for the month of June, 1889. 
Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

(Here follow the signatures of the Committee which 
has Charles Brown's interests in charge.) 

* No scholar to be eligible unless he or she has held the office of class 
color-bearer at least one term, or has been duly elected and served for at 
least one calendar month as a member of the school color guard, prior 
to his or her candidacy. 

f This letter should be neatly written on one side of a sheet of letter- 



51 

If in the opinion of the Principal the candidate 
thus proposed is a proper person to fill the office, he 
will enter the name on the official list of candidates 
and their promoters, over his own official signature, 
and post the list so authenticated on the school 
bulletin or notice-board, one week prior to the day 
on which the election is to take place. 

Votes cast for any other candidates than those thus 
proposed will not be considered by the Judges, but 
will be returned as blank votes. 

At the same time that the names of the candidates 
are posted, the Principal will in writing, over his 
official signature, announce the day on which, the 
room in, and hour at which the polls will be open, 
and also the names of the Judges he has selected. 

The votes having been duly canvassed, the result 
of the election will be reported in writing to the 
Principal, before 9 A.M. the next day, in the follow- 
ing form : 

New York, May 30, 1889. 

Mr. Edward A. Page, 

Principal Boys' Department, 

Grammar School No. 77 .• 

Dear Sir : 

We would respectfully report the following 
as the result of an election held in the Assembly 
Hall between the hours of 3.15 and 5 p. m. to-day 

paper, leaving a margin of not less than an inch wide at the left hand. 
It should be folded in three equal parts, across the page, be inclosed in 
a No. 9 envelope and properly addressed to the Principal. 



52 

for a School Standard-Bearer to take the place of 
Henry Raymond, whose term of office expires on the 
morning of June i, next. 

Whole number of scholars on the school rolls, 890 
Whole number of votes cast, - 854 

Necessary to a choice, - - - - 428 



Of which Charles Brown received, 


- 536 


" " Henry James, " - 
" " Thomas Pope, " - 
" " Blank, " - 


- 186 

- 123 

- 9 



Total votes, - - 854 
We accordingly declare Charles Brown to be 
elected. 

Charles L. Lawrence, 
Louis Sommers, Judges 

Louise Kramer, \ of 

Jennie Bermingham, Election. 

Julia C. Cremins, 

At some point in the morning exercises on the 
following day, being the last school-day in the 
month, the Principal will announce the result to 
the assembled school by reading the report of the 
Judges, a copy of which will thereafter be placed on 
the notice-board for the use of the school. 

The School Color Guard. 

If, as it has been shown, it is appropriate and 
advantageous to have a color guard for the Class 
Flag, it is even more fitting and necessary to have 
a similar body of chosen pupils as a guard for the 



53 

School Flag, as will be very apparent, when I come 
to rehearse the duties which are imposed on the 
school standard-bearer and his official supporters, in. 
connection with the care of the Signal Flag. 

If we would cultivate in children a sense of res- 
pect, as well as a love for the flag, because of what 
it stands for — because it is the symbol of the Amer- 
ican Public School, we must in every way evince a 
solicitude respecting its care, and invest the office of 
the color guard with all the dignity and importance 
which numbers can give. As in the case of the 
Class Flag, the guard for the School Flag should 
have an even number of members and for precisely 
the same reason. As to what this number should 
be I recommend the following rule to determine it :: 
For all schools or separate departments of a school 
having four hundred pupils or less, there should be: 
two members in the guard ; for schools or separate: 
departments with above four hundred pupils and not 
over seven hundred, the guard should be composed 
of four members ; for schools or separate departments 
with above seven hundred pupils and not over one- 
thousand, there should be six members ; while where 
the number of pupils exceed one thousand, the guard 
should number eight members. 

Concerning the question of eligibility ; in accord- • 
ance with the well-established principle that those 
are best fitted for special work, who have had some 
experience in its details, and in order that new and 
more desirable rewards — in the form of positions of" 
higher trust, larger responsibilities, and by conse- 



54 

quence of greater honor and dignity, — may be offered 
to those pupils who have already distinguished them- 
selves by good conduct, only those scholars should 
be eligible for the guard, who have served at least 
one term either as a class color-bearer, or on the 
class color guard, prior to his or her becoming a 
candidate for the higher position. 

The term of office should be two months, one half 
the guard being elected every month, thus securing 
one or more experienced members at all times. 

The members should be elected by ballot, on a 
separate ticket from the school standard-bearer ; the 
ticket with the names of the several candidates, being 
inscribed, when folded, " School Color Guard" while 
those for the color-bearer will, after being folded, be 
inscribed, " School Standard-Bearer" 

The nominations should be submitted to the 
Principal, as in the case of those for the color-bearer, 
ten days prior to the election, and in conformity to 
the rules already set out as to being in writing, 
heing approved by the Principal, and being duly 
posted. 

After the polls are closed the Judges will canvass, 
first, the votes for the color-bearer ; and next, the 
votes for the color guard. 

If there is but one vacancy in the guard to be 
filled, the candidate receiving the highest number of 
votes will be declared elected. If there are two, three 
■ or four vacancies to be filled, the two, three or four 
candidates having the highest number of votes will 
be declared elected. Immediately after the result of 



55 

the election has been ascertained, the Judges will 
make a written report to the Principal in the follow- 
ing form : 

New York, May 30, 1889. 
Mr. Edward A. Page, 

Principal Boys' Department, 

Grammar School No. 77/ 
Dear Sir : 

We would respectfully report the following 
as the result of the election held to-day for two mem- 
bers of the school color guard, to serve during the 
months of June and September next : 

Whole number of voters, - - - - 784 
Whole number of votes cast, - - - 1,568 

Of which James Fraser received, 
" " Solomon Cohn 
" " Henry Otis 
" " Patrick HalloraD 
" " Blank 

Total, - 1,568 
We accordingly declare James Fraser and Solo- 
mon Cohn to have been duly elected. 

Charees L. Lawrence, s 
Louis Sommers, Judges 

Louise Kramer, \ of 

Jennie Bermingham, Election. 

Julia C. Cremins, 

At the morning exercise on the last school-day of 
the month, at the same time that the Principal 
announces the result of the ballot for the school 



ived, 


~ 467 


u 


" 465 


a 


- 450 


a 


- 180 


a 


6 



56 

standard-bearer for the ensuing month, he will also 
announce the names of those of the color guard 
declared to be duly elected for the ensuing two 
months by the Judges of Election. 

As a still further honor, the school color-bearer 
and the members of his guard, will be decorated by 
the Principal with the badge of citizenship, on the 
occasion of the ceremonious transfer of the School 
Flag from the old to the new guard, at the morning 
exercise of the first school-day in the month. These 
badges they will be permitted to wear during school 
hours and on all occasions of ceremony at which the 
colors are carried. 

Transfer of the School Flag from the custody of the 
old, to that of the new Guard. 

The ceremony of transferring the School Flag 
from the custody and care of the old standard-bearer 
and his guard, to that of the new bearer and his 
associates, if conducted with tact and dignity on the 
part of the Principal, can be made, not only a most 
impressive occasion, but one affording a fitting 
opportunity for the head of the school to give voice 
to, and to inculcate the noblest and most patriotic 
sentiments. In fact, he should so carefully prepare 
himself for the occasion, as to make each monthly 
return of the day an opportunity for impressing on 
the minds of his pupils some great historic truth, 
having a direct bearing on the birth, development, 
or the present condition of our political institutions ; 
so that it will be a day looked forward to with the 



57 

deepest interest by every scholar, to hear what he 
may have to say. 

On the assembling of the school at 9 A. m. on the 
first school-day of the month, the first exercise on the 
programme will be the inauguration of the new 
school standard-bearer 

The outgoing standard-bearer, carrying the flag 
unfurled and attended by his color guard, will take 
up a position on the right of the Principal's platform, 
the flag in front, the guard by twos in its rear, the 
drummer or bugler in rear of the guard. At the 
same time, the new standard-bearer, followed by the 
one or more new members of his guard, will assume 
a corresponding position on the left of the platform. 

The school being assembled ; having given the 
usual morning salutation to the Principal, and the 
Scriptures having been read, at a signal on the bell, 
the two standard-bearers, attended by their respective 
guards, will advance slowly to the space in front of 
the platform, arranging themselves in a single line 
facing the school ; the new standard-bearer and his 
guard in front of the middle of the platform, the old 
guard on the right of the new one, and two paces 
therefrom ; the music at the extreme right with an 
interval of two paces between it and the old guard. 

The two guards having taken up their positions, 
the Principal will proceed in a few pointed and well- 
chosen words to carry out the suggestion just made 
touching the subj ect of his remarks. Selecting some 
striking incident or event in the past, or in the con- 
temporaneous history of the American people, he will 



58 

point out its bearing or influence, upon the social or 
political life and growth of the nation. If the ex- 
ample selected is of a date anterior to the Declaration 
of Independence, he will endeavor to trace how far 
it may have contributed to lay the foundations of the 
government under which we live ; if the event is 
more recent, he will seek to show how far its influence 
may have promoted, or retarded the growth of Amer- 
ican institutions. He should essay to draw a moral 
from the narrative, and connect it if possible with the 
ceremony which the school is about to witness — of 
transferring the symbol of national sovereignty from 
one custodian to another. As, for instance, by call- 
ing attention to that aspect of the philosophy of 
history which teaches us that great men pass away, 
that measures of seemingly vast import prove tran- 
sitory in their results, but great principles and great 
truths in morals and in politics, remain for ever 
immutable. 

If the outgoing standard-bearer has performed his 
duty well, the fact should be alluded to in terms of 
commendation, and a conclusion should be reached 
by exhorting the whole school to emulate the ex- 
ample of this public officer in the discharge of their 
duties as scholars and citizens. 

Having closed his remarks, the Principal will 
proceed to collect the badges of citizenship held by 
the old standard-bearer and the outgoing members 
of his guard during their term of office, by slowly 
passing in front of the guard so as to give each one 
an opportunity to surrender his badge. This done, 



59 

he will pass to the front of the new guard, and com- 
mencing with the color-bearer, will decorate him and 
each of the new members of his guard with a badge. 
Returning to the old guard, he will take a position in 
front of and facing the colors ; whereupon the out- 
going standard-bearer will surrender the colors to 
him, with all the elegance of movement and dignity 
of manner at his command. 

Taking the flag in his right hand, the Principal 
will advance a few paces to the open space in front 
of the guard, half facing the school, at which place 
he will be at once joined by the new standard-bearer, 
who will take a position on the left of, and facing the 
Principal. Thereupon, the Principal, in a clear voice 
and with a deliberate and emphatic utterance, so that 
the whole school can hear, will address the color- 
bearer somewhat to this effect : 

" A. B. ; you have been formally chosen by your 
school-mates as their representative to carry this flag 
for the ensuing month. I charge you to be faithful 
and true to this high trust, and neither by word nor 
deed to do aught to tarnish the fair fame of this 
school, of which this standard is the symbol. Guard 
this flag, then, with jealous care ; it stands for our 
common country ; it stands for that grand system 
of public education, which has freely placed at your 
disposal the matchless opportunities for self-improve- 
ment which you and your associates enjoy to-day ; 
it stands for all that is best in our modern civiliza- 
tion ; I hereby place this flag in your keeping, and 
with it the reputation and honor of this school." 



60 

With, these words the Principal will place the 
flag in the hands of the standard-bearer, who will 
immediately resume his position in the ranks of his 
■guard. 

At the same moment, those members of the old 
guard who have yet a month to serve, will quietly 
take their places in the new guard, next to the color- 
bearer. 

The Principal having resumed his place on the 
platform, at a signal on the bell, the whole school 
will rise. When the utmost stillness reigns, the flag 
will be saluted by the school in the manner already 
described in connection with the Class Flag.* As 
soon as the salute has been given, at the command 
of the Principal, while the school remains standing, 
the old guard, led by its drummer, beating an ap- 
propriate air, will march past the new guard with 
beads erect, firm steps and a soldierly carriage, and 
so return to their places in the school. As they 
pass before the new guard, the flag will be dipped 
in their honor. 

The installation of the new standard-bearer con- 
cluded, the ordinary routine of the morning exercise 
will be resumed. 

5. The Signal Flag. 

Having studied the subject of the introduction of 
the flag in its symbolic character, into the curricu- 
lum, so far as the daily internal administration of the 
school is concerned, we pass next to the considera- 

* See pages 32-35. 



61 

lion of the influence which the flag can be made to 
exert on the public at large, through the agency of 
the external administration of the school, as it floats 
from a flag-staff placed on the school-house, or in 
the adjacent grounds:* i. When used as a symbol 
to mark the loyalty of every teacher and every 
scholar to American principles and American insti- 
tutions : and 2, When used as a signal, to indicate 
that the school is in session. 

If a century of vigorous and unexampled growth 
entitles us as a people to take high rank among the 
nations of the earth ; if the public school can be 
properly regarded, as I have here claimed that it is, 
the nursery of the State, then I can conceive of 
nothing more appropriate than that the peculiar 
office of these schools should be, to teach patriotism 
to the children of this people, with the symbol of 
national sovereignty floating above them. The idea 
of raising the national ensign over the school-house, 
is by no means a new one in this metropolis. During 
the war of the rebellion of 1861-65 every public 
school in this city was dominated by a flag-staff, 
and in harmony with the intensely national feeling 
which at that period permeated all classes of so- 
ciety, the national colors were always displayed 
whenever any occasion arose demanding it. 

As time went on and the stirring events of the 
war passed into history, the exuberance of patriotic 
ardor became less and less, the flag was more infre- 
quently seen on the schools, until in 1887, but about 

* See page 13, ante. 



62 

twenty-five flag-staffs remained on the one hundred 
and thirty-two public school houses in the city at that 
date, and most of these were in an unserviceable 
condition. In that year surveys and estimates were 
made, looking to the renewal of unsafe staffs, placing 
new ones on such houses as were without them, and 
supplying the whole number with a new outfit of 
halyards and flags ; these estimates amounted to a 
total of $28,000. 

Aside from this great expense, not to mention that 
of renewing the halyards and flags periodically, the 
leaking of the roofs — caused by the injury to the 
roof covering from the racking motion of the staff 
during the continuance of high winds, and by persons 
constantly walking over them to reach the staffs — 
was found to be an insuperable objection from a 
constructive point of view, to allowing the staffs to 
remain on top of the school-houses, and accordingly, 
in 1888, nearly all that remained were removed.* 

As the patriotic enthusiasm among the teachers 
and pupils in these schools, until a very recent 
period, was not sufficiently fervid or pronounced, to 
demand the retention of the flag-staffs, at the cost of 
devising some better way of fitting up the staff, not 
open to the objections mentioned ; or of finding some 
better location for it, on or near the building, the 
whole matter of displaying the flag on the school- 
house fell into desuetude. 

* On the 1st of May, 1890, but eleven remained on the 176 school- 
houses owned or leased by the city and in charge of the Board of Edu- 
cation. 



63 

Voluntary vs. Compulsory Patriotism. 

That there has been within the last year a marked 
revival in the interest which the general public takes 
in the question, both of the use of the flag in the 
school and of displaying it on our public school 
buildings, is proved by the fact that within the past 
five months the legislative assemblies of two States * 
have been urged to place upon the statute-book laws 
bearing directly upon this subject. 

It would seem that in proportion as some of our 
people realize the fact, that heretofore patriotism, as 
a distinct branch of education, has been for the most 
part utterly ignored and neglected among us, so do 
they seek now, through the interposition of the 
machinery of government, moved by the zeal char- 
acteristic of new converts, to win over the entire 
community to their newly-acquired views, even 
though it must be accomplished — to speak meta- 
phorically — at the point of the bayonet. This 
disposition to invoke the force and even the penalties 
of law, to reach results in a matter which, as in every 
other form of education, is dependent for its real 
value upon a proper cultivation of the mental powers, 
concurrently with a judicious appeal to the higher 
emotions, is in my opinion quite as unnecessary as 
it is unwise and inexpedient. 

Under our form of government, no law which is 
not sustained and backed by public opinion can ever 
be properly and peacefully enforced ; and hence, 

* Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. 



64 

until that great body which we call the public — or a 
majority of it — has been so moulded and trained 
through the medium of the educating influences of 
our social and political life, — exerted mainly through 
the public school, — as to fully appreciate what true 
patriotism is, and so make the opinion of this great 
public a living force ; it is idle, as it seems to me, 
to enact compulsory measures to effect this end. 
Neither patriots nor saints can be created by statute ; 
there is no royal road to true patriotism through 
legislative enactments ; they may be of use to en- 
courage the cultivation of this virtue, but never to 
enforce it. The animating force which imparts 
vigor to patriotic ardor must proceed from within, 
rather than act from without ; it must be innate 
rather than extrinsic. In short, patriotism, to be 
real and enduring, must be the voluntary offering 
of a soul filled with the noblest and most generous 
impulses, and not a half-hearted, reluctant and per- 
functory service rendered in obedience to arbitrary 
law. To reiterate more emphatically what I have 
already said,* education in patriotism, to be of the 
greatest and most lasting value, must commence in 
childhood, the earlier in point of years the better. 
When, through daily lessons in all the minor as well 
as the cardinal virtues ; when, through daily addi- 
tions to its stock of knowledge, of its relations to its 
companions, of its relations to the citizens of the 
place in which it lives, and through these of its rela- 
tions to that larger society to which we have given 
the name of the nation, the child, year by year, learns 

* See pages 8, 9, ante. 



65 

more and more to appreciate what American citizen- 
ship really means ; when, with its growth in statnre 
and all knowledge, comes that mental discipline, 
that intellectual breadth and development which en- 
ables it more clearly to comprehend the true mean- 
ing of patriotism, there will come a time in the evolu- 
tion of its school life when the nag on the school will 
be but the natural expression and exponent of the 
fervid love of country which that discipline of mind 
and body called education, has developed in every 
scholar's heart. A patriotism, which supremely 
conscious of the rights, the privileges, the worth and 
the dignity of American citizenship, will not require 
an act of the Legislature to remind it of its duties. 
This inclination to look to the formalities and 
force of law to promote a love of country, rather than 
to depend upon the slower, more democratic, but more 
effective and thorough methods which I have here 
pointed out, has assumed two forms, which accurately 
reflect the political ideas of their respective support- 
ers. One of these may be described as permissive 
legislation, the other as mandatory legislation. 
We have an example of the first form in the statute 
passed in April last by the Legislature of the State 
of Wisconsin, authorizing School Boards to purchase, 
at the public expense, one or more flags of the 
United States, and place the same in the school- 
rooms under their charge.* That is, these Boards are 

* LAWS OF WISCONSIN, 1889. Chapter 272. 
AN ACT to authorize School Boards to purchase United States Flags. 
The People of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and 
Assembly, do enact as follows : 
Section I. The School Board of any city or district is hereby 



66 

authorized by this act to do for the schools, precisely 
what the extended record given in Part First of this 
address, shows has been done voluntarily for the past 
two years, by the friends of the public-school system 
in this city. 

We have an example of the second form of legis- 
lation referred to, in a bill which was introduced into 
the House of Representatives of the State of Penn- 
sylvania in January last, which not only authorized 
the Boards of Directors and Controllers of the several 
school districts of the commonwealth, but required 
them, to erect and maintain upon all buildings used 
for school purposes, and over the buildings and 
grounds of all educational institutions receiving aid 
from that State, " A flag-staff equipped with the 
necessary appliances pertaining thereto," etc.* I am 

authorized to purchase, at public expense, one or more flags of the 
United States, and place the sama in the school-room or rooms under 
their charge ; also to purchase such necessary apparatus as may be 
necessary for properly preserving such flag or flags; provided, however, 
that not more than one flag and appurtenances shall be purchased for 
each department. 

Approved April 4, 1889. Published April 6, 1889. 

* The following is a copy of the Bill : 

LEGISLATURE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. NO. 15— SESSION OF 1889. 
Mr. H. P. Brown. In place, January 11, 1889. 
Mr. H. P. Brown. Education, January 16, 1889. 
AN ACT 
Providing for the purchase, maintenance and daily display, during 
school sessions, of the American flag over all public school buildings 
or the grounds belonging thereto within this Commonwealth, and 
over the school buildings or grounds of all educational institutions 
receiving aid from this Commonwealth. 
Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hi General Assembly met, and it 



67 

not aware of the nature of the arguments used by the 
opponents of the bill, but whatever they may have 
been, they were of sufficient weight to defeat it on a 
third reading. 

In striking contrast with the spirit and mandatory 

is hereby enacted by authority of the same : That the Boards of Directors 
and Controllers of the several school districts of this Commonwealth be 
and they are hereby authorized and required to erect and maintain, or 
cause to be erected and maintained upon each and every building, or the 
grounds belonging thereto, used and occupied for public school purposes 
within their several school districts, a flag-staff equipped with the neces- 
sary appliances pertaining thereto, and to provide and maintain for each 
of said buildings a flag of the United States of America, of suitable 
dimensions and quality, subject to the inspection and approval of the 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his duly authorized agent, 
which shall be hoisted upon said flag-staff by the janitor of the school 
building, or a teacher employed therein, or other person, at the opening 
of each daily session of school, and shall remain elevated until the close 
of each daily session during the entire term or terms of said public 
school in each and every school year. 

Section II. It shall be lawful for the Boards of Directors and Con- 
trollers of the several school districts of this Commonwealth to purchase 
the necessary flag-staffs, flags and other appliances, and to pay for the 
same and all expenses pertaining thereto, out of the ordinary School 
Fund of their several districts, in the same manner as salaries, fuel and 
other expenses are now paid. 

Section III. The Boards of Directors or Controllers of the several 
school districts of this Commonwealth shall not be entitled to receive 
any portion of the amount of money due to their several school districts 
in any year from the State appropriations for public school purposes 
until they shall have certified under oath, to the State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, that all of the provisions of this Act have been fully 
complied with, which certificate shall be made annually. 

Section IV. The Boards of Trustees or Managers of all educational 
institutions which shall receive aid from the Commonwealth shall be 
required to erect and maintain, or cause to be erected and maintained 
upon their school buildings or grounds, a flag-staff equ pped with the 
necessary appliances, and to provide and maintain a flag of the United 
States of America, and no other, of suitable dimensions and quality, 
which shall be hoisted upon said flag-staff at the opening of each daily 
session of school, and shall remain elevated until the close of each daily 



68 

character of this bill, let me relate an incident which 
aptly illustrates the principle I have all through this 
address endeavored to emphasize, that in its inception 
and early development, the sentiment of patriotism, 
to be perpetually vigorous and fresh, must be a 

session during the entire term or terms of said school in each and every 
year, and no portion of any moneys hereafter appropriated to any edu- 
cational institution, shall be paid over to such institution until a certifi- 
cate under oath or affirmation made by the trustees or managers of such 
institution shall have been filed with the State Treasurer setting forth 
that all the provisions of this Act have been fully complied with, which 
certificate shall be made annually. 

Section V. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent herewith be and 
the same are hereby repealed. 



Since this address was delivered, another example of bills of a man- 
datory character, touching the display of the flag, has been furnished 
by the Legislature of the State of New York. The following is a copy 
of the bill referred to: 

STATE OF NEW YORK. 

No. 12. 

IN SENATE. JANUARY 7, 189O. 

Introduced by Mr. Coggeshall — read twice, ordered printed, and 
referred to the Committee on Finance, when appointed. 

AN ACT 
Providing for the purchase and display of American flags in connection 

with the school buildings of the State. 
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- 
bly, do enact as follows: 

Section I. The Board of Education, or the trustees in the several 
cities and school districts of this State, shall purchase, or cause to be 
purchased, a suitable American flag, and they shall erect and maintain, 
or cause to be erected and maintained upon each school building or the 
grounds belonging thereto, a suitable flag-staff with the necessary appli- 
ances for displaying said flag, and shall cause said flag to be displayed 
upon said staff upon all public holidays, and at such other times as the 
Board of Education or the trustees may direct. 

Section II. It shall be lawful for said boards and trustees to pay 
for said flags and staffs, and to provide for the proper care of the same, 
from any school funds which they may have in their hands, or which 



69 

spontaneous emotion; leaving it to the matured 
intellectual powers to confirm and strengthen, by 
critical investigation and deliberate study, the im- 
pressions previously made on the emotional nature 
of the child. Where the heart is enlisted, so will 
the intellect be directed, and with the happiest re- 
sults ; both are imperatively needed to develope the 
true patriot. But to my illustration : 

This very evening * I am invited to be present at 
the West Side Italian School, on the occasion of the 
presentation by the young Italians of both sexes — 
pupils in the evening class — of a large American flag,, 
10 by 20 feet in size, with suitable staff and hal- 
yards for displaying it from the roof of the build- 
ing. I am informed that these scholars — who are 
employed at various vocations through the working- 
day and then voluntarily spend two hours for five 
evenings of the week in endeavoring to obtain the 
rudiments of an education — when invited recently 
in common with all the pupils in your schools to 
aid in procuring a memorial tablet for your late 

may be subject to their order, or to include the expense thereof in the 
next annual estimate for school purposes, or in any tax list for school 
purposes. The expense thereof shall be met by boards and officers 
charged with the duty of raising or appropriating money for school 
expenses as any other necessary expenditures for school purposes are 
raised. 

Section III. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall see 
that all public schools, or educational and charitable institutions which 
receive aid from the State, shall comply with the provisions of this Act,, 
and he is authorized to determine what will constitute a suitable and 
proper compliance therewith. 

Section IV. This Act shall take effect immediately. 

*June 28, 1880. 



70 

Superintendent, Mr. Skinner, contributed so gener- 
ously of their slender means, that it was only neces- 
sary to accept as their portion but about one-half of 
the amount offered. 

The disposition of the balance having been left 
very properly to the decision of the contributors ; 
upon a ballot being taken, it was unanimously 
agreed to expend it in the purchase of a large 
American ensign, as a patriotic memorial in honor 
*of their late friend and Superintendent. 

This spontaneous and graceful recognition of what 
American institutions have already done, and are now 
doing for this class of our city's population, is only 
another proof of how this society, through you, its 
teachers and the interpreters of the Christian spirit 
in which it works, has touched, and insensibly — but 
none the less strongly — influenced the hearts of 
these youths, and further, what a grand foundation 
you, as its representatives, are thus laying for the 
future of this Republic. 

When we consider the very low social grade from 
which have came these children of alien birth or 
alien parentage, representing as their parents do in 
most cases, and their progenitors before them, the 
peasant laborers, the shepherds and the vine-dressers 
of the Italian provinces, particularly those inhabiting 
the southern peninsula — the Apulia of the Romans 
— a peasantry, who, in this portion of Italy at least, 
for centuries have been practically never else than 
serfs ; a people, whose social and political con- 
edition is to-day, practically no better than was that 



71 

of their ancestors one thousand years ago ; compared 
to whose dense, black ignorance, bitter poverty and 
utterly hopeless and stolidly apathetic lives, the lot 
of the average American black slave before the war 
of the rebellion, stood for intelligence, freedom and 
affluence itself ; when we come to understand better 
the magical change which the immigration of their 
parents to this country has brought about in the 
daily lives of these children, and what a hopeful 
future their school life unfolds to them, through 
your devoted efforts, where all was dull despair 
before ; we stand amazed at what a change has been 
wrought in these people through your disinterested 
labors. 

With all this in view, it is easy to understand with 
what a pardonable pride these children will hereafter 
gaze upon that flag, as it floats over their educational 
home, and how it is that in thus voluntarily dedi- 
cating to the memory of their departed friend, the 
symbol of that nation of which it is their highest 
ambition to become a part, they have not only done 
honor to a man whose earnest life, sterling character 
and noble example, reflected the typical American 
citizen, but they have, in the best sense of these 
words, honored themselves. 

As between the voluntary system of patriotic 
education, as illustrated by the daily work of this 
society, a system in striking harmony with the mod- 
ern idea of confining the functions of government to 
those lines which affect the interests of civil society 
at large, instead of those which promote only the 



72 

interests of a single or a privileged class, and that 
compulsory system of training the emotions which 
mandatory legislation seeks to inaugurate, I think 
there can be no hesitation in choosing. The one is 
consonant with the whole spirit of our institutions, 
the other with monarchical and aristocratic prece- 
dents ; the one seeks to lead the scholar, the other 
attempts to drive him ; the one appeals to reason, 
the other to brute force. 

This single illustration of what the labors of this 
society have indirectly accomplished in the way of 
patriotic education in its schools, gives but a very 
faint idea of the tremendous influence it can be made 
to exert in that direction, if we can only unite upon 
a well-conceived and harmonious plan for future 
action. And it proves further very conclusively, as 
it seems to me, the practical value of the methods 
here outlined for making each child familiar with the 
symbols of patriotism from its earliest years ; so that 
when the question arises as to placing the flag on 
the outside of the school-house, that the world may 
know that all are loyal within, it shall be but 
the final act and consummation of a carefully 
wrought out plan, an additional step in the 
upward progress of the scholar in its education 
in civics, as natural and as inevitable as its ad- 
vancement in any other branch of knowledge, or 
its bodily growth in size and stature from year to 
year. Not as a recent newspaper article expressed 
it, that it " will do much to keep alive the patriotic 
spirit," as if such an act was the inciting cause, but 



?3 

rather that it is but one effect, but one more step 
forward in a long course of training, due simply and 
absolutely to the strict observance of the natural law 
of development. Therefore, I reiterate here what I 
have already twice emphasized, that when, by the 
use of the flag as has been here set forth, every child 
in the school has come to love and respect it ; when 
they begin to appreciate in some slight degree what 
it is to love their country ; when they are ready to 
work in order to obtain the flag ; when they are eager 
to make personal sacrifices to secure it ; then let their 
parents and friends step in with their material aid, 
and the flag so secured will have a depth of meaning, 
and will represent to these children what it represents 
to every man who has fought for it, and to every 
woman whose heart has been wrung for it : a supreme 
effort ; a great trial ; a costly sacrifice. On that 
which has cost us the most, we always set the highest 
value ; hence, following the same law, these children, 
by reason of the training I have outlined, will in- 
sensibly be brought to some faint sense of apprecia- 
tion of what it means to be born at the close of the 
nineteenth century, within the protecting arms of the 
American Republic ; " where," as one of our great 
writers has said, " domestic peace is maintained 
without the aid of a military establishment" — 
" where every man may enjoy unmolested the fruit 
of his own industry " — " where every mind is free 
to publish its own convictions," and " where religion 
is neither persecuted, nor paid by the State." 

In due time they will learn that it is such great 



rights and inestimable privileges as these, for which 
the Revolution was fought, and which were only 
secured at a vast sacrifice of treasure, of blood and of 
personal suffering on the part of our forefathers, not 
only that we their children, but that the whole world 
might be free. 

As Whittier has said : 

" Not for their hearths and homes alone, 
But for the world the deed was done ; 
On all the winds their thought has flown 
Through all the circuit of the sun." * 

When, therefore, the children in any school have 
arrived at such an appreciation of the real meaning 
of freedom, and their hearts are in touch with every 
patriotic emotion, then, indeed, it can be averred with 
truth that the flag on the school-house will have a 
real significance, in that it will become a sign and 
pledge to the world, that every child and teacher 
under its roof is a true-hearted, earnest-minded, loyal- 
spirited American, well understanding the great 
responsibility which citizenship confers, and fully 
prepared to assume that responsibility when the time 
is at hand to do so. 

How shall the Loyalty of a School to American 
Institutions be Ascertained and Tested ? 

As has already been observed, one of the most 
useful and, as it appears to me, one of the highest 
purposes for which the flag can be employed in its 
symbolic character, is that of indicating, by its pres- 

* From the ode read at the unveiling of a statue of Governor 
Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
at Amesbury, Mass., July 4, 1888. 



70 



ence on the school-House or on the adjacent grounds^ 
the thorough loyalty of all connected with the 
school — teachers as well as scholars — to those great 
and distinctive political principles, through a devo- 
tion to, and through the practical application of 
which for a century — as measured by the constantly- 
increasing knowledge of their true meaning among 
the mass of the American people — there has been 
evolved gradually and established more and more 
firmly, those well-settled civic canons, that body 
of original political doctrines, which have come to be 
known and accepted as American institutions. 

Prominent among these doctrines, is that of the 
necessity of free education for the children of all 
citizens at the public cost ; and hence, conspicuous 
among these American institutions, stands to-day, 
that most popular and most successful one, the 
public-school system. 

Now, it would be very unreasonable to expect, 
still more to demand, that a body of children under 
instruction should understand, or indeed have any 
clear or definite notions regarding the meaning and 
force of the political principles here referred to ;, 
principles, which it is not asserting too much to say, 
that a very large majority of those who are legally 
entitled to exercise the elective franchise in the 
United States at the present time, could neither 
formulate nor satisfactorily explain. 

On the other hand, it is certainly not exacting too 
much, either of the immature mental powers of 
children, or of the innate sense of justice which they 



76 

possess in so high a degree, to ask that those 
scholars who shall hereafter be trained for citizenship 
on the plan I have indicated, or who may enjoy the 
added advantage of the methods of mental discipline 
which I shall describe under the head of Intellectual 
Patriotism, while being educated under this bene- 
ficent free-school system, and who in the near future 
are to experience all the advantages which a govern- 
ment, founded upon those great principles, confers 
upon the civil society, of which, even now, these 
children form a part ; should devoutly believe in the 
political necessity and merits of the public school, 
and be loyal and true to that institution, to which 
they must be ever deeply indebted. 

Admitting that this argument is sound, the ques- 
tion at once arises, how shall the loyalty of these 
scholars to their political foster parent — the public 
school — be ascertained and tested ? 

I think no one at all familiar with the mental 
habits and the daily lives of school children will 
dispute, that the training and exercises I have out- 
lined, in which the use of the national colors and the 
badge of citizenship form so essential a part — 
particularly if conducted under the direction of 
teachers, who themselves thoroughly believe, as they 
ought to, in the American idea of the public school ; 
in the absolute equality of all men before the law ; 
that free government, in the best sense of these 
words, is but the practical application of Christian 
charity to the conduct and conservation of social 
order ; and that the best citizens are those most 



77 

deeply imbued with the spirit and essence of 
Christianity — must produce inevitably in the long 
run, a very deep and abiding impression on every 
child subjected to such influences, no matter what 
may be its intellectual endowments, its social 
position, or its environments ; and that in due time 
these impressions will manifest themselves in many 
unmistakable ways, readily interpreted by the 
teacher. 

That the effect of the system of mental training 
and personal discipline at present in vogue in the 
public schools of this city — particularly under the 
stimulus of the new interest which has been given 
during the last two years to patriotic subjects, by 
the presentation of national flags, and portraits of 
Washington and Lincoln to many of these schools 
— has exerted a remarkable influence in reviving 
patriotic ardor and arousing patriotic enthusiasm, 
there can be no manner of doubt. 

The evidences of the growing interest of our 
young people in all that concerns a love for, and the 
future welfare of our country, is daily more and 
more manifest and widespread, and all lovers of 
America, who are very properly deeply solicitous 
as to the future of this our glorious heritage, may 
rest assured that there is no degeneracy in the race 
in this regard, certainly so far as the pupils in the 
public schools of this city are concerned.* 

* Since this address was delivered, many striking illustrations of the 
truth of this assertion have come under my observation. I will men- 
tion but a single one, which will, I think, satisfy the most pessimistic 



78 

But all this does not prove that the methods of 
stimulating and cultivating the noblest of virtues 

doubter that the spirit which animated the fathers of this Republic is by no 
means extinguished even in this aggressively commercial metropolis. 
WHAT THE FLAG MEANS TO AN AMERICAN SCHOOL-BOY 
OF FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE. 
On the 9th of January, 1890, The Youth's Cotnpanion, published in 
Boston, Mass., which has a circulation of 33,645 copies in the State of 
New York, and of nearly half a million in the United States, made 
public the following offer : 

THE FLAG AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
The Youth's Companion, in one of its issues of more than a year ago, 
set forth the idea of the flag and the public schools. The idea is becom- 
ing popular, and the American flag can now be seen floating over many 
a patriotic school. 

The Youth' s Companion now asks the privilege of floating an Ameri- 
can flag (at its own expense) over one public school-house in each of the 
forty-two States. 

Which one of the schools in each State shall have the flag ? 
The scholars in any of our public schools, wishing to secure the flag 
for their school, can compete for it in the following manner : 

They are invited to write an essay, of not more than 600 words in 
length, on "The Patriotic Influence of the American Flag when Raised 
over the Public Schools." 

These essays are to be handed to their teacher for examination. The 
essay selected by the teacher as the best may be forwarded to The 
YoutH 's Companion on or before April 1, 1890. 

Each essay sent to us must be accompanied by the name of the 
school, the author, and the town and State. 

The school in each State sending us the best essay on the subject will 
receive from us, free of all expense, a regulation bunting flag, nine by 
fifteen feet in size — forty-two stars. 

The awards will be made as soon after April 1st as possible, in season 
for the schools to dedicate the flags on the Fourth of July, 1890. 

As soon as the award of the flags has been made, The Youths Com- 
panion will publish the names of the schools receiving them, also the 
names of the writers of the essays. 

Perry Mason & Co., 
Publishers The Youth' s Cotnpanion, Boston, Mass. 



In April last the award of the flag for the State of New York was- 
made by the publishers of The Youth' s Companion in accordance with 



79 

which I have here formulated, based as they seem 
to me to be, on the psychological and pedagogic 
principles, which are now accepted by our most 
successful teachers, will not produce still more 

the agreement set forth in the foregoing notice; the flag going to Gram- 
mar School No. 63, situated at North Third avenue and 173d street, in 
the Twenty-fourth Ward of the City of New York, of which Mr. John 
H. Myers is the Principal. The following is the essay thus declared to 
be the best of all from the Empire State: 

"THE PATRIOTIC INFLUENCE OF THE AMERICAN FLAG 
WHEN RAISED ABOVE A PUBLIC SCHOOL." 

It shall be my object in writing on this subject, not to prove that this 
influence should be exerted over the older people so much, but over the 
boys — for two reasons : first, because being a boy, I am able to judge 
more accurately of the feelings of a boy; and secondly, because those 
who are boys now, will, in future time, be the great men of our nation 
— the presidents, the statesmen, the soldiers, editors, the clergymen, etc. 

On coming to school and seeing the "Stars and Stripes" floating in 
the breeze over the school-house, what boy would not pause in admira- 
tion and think of the glorious battles in which this same beautiful ban- 
ner had so triumphantly waved — at Stony Point, Saratoga, at the mast- 
heads of Paul Jones' gallant ships, at Fort McHenry, from which the idea 
of our beautiful song, "The Star Spangled Banner," was taken — all 
through the Mexican War, and later still in the bloody battles of the 
" Rebellion," at Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on the victorious " Mon- 
itor." 

And it must be a mean-spirited and unpatriotic boy indeed, who would 
not be willing to fight under a flag for which so many brave men have 
fought and died. 

And then he would think what that flag represented — a country, not 
like Russia or Turkey, where the people are compelled to bow to the will 
of one man, who has but to say the word and one's head is severed from 
his body, or the individual is compelled to conform to some particular 
creed in which the despot believes — but a country where everybody is 
free! free to worship God as he please, free to elect the men who 
govern him; a country which protects him where he is now — which pro- 
tects the schools and floats its flag over them as a sign of such protec- 
tion, the school where some of the happiest, and, maybe, some of the 
bitterest hours of his life have been spent. 

A country where men have equal chances to win in the struggle of 
life; and, as he thinks of all these glorious privileges, do you suppose 



80 

valuable results, by interesting both scholars and 
teachers in this vital question as they have never 
been interested before, and so still better prepare 
the way for the wise and intelligent exercise of the 
duties and privileges of American citizenship on 
the part of the rising generation. 

As I remarked in the earlier part of this address, 
there is an abundance of dormant patriotism in the 
hearts of this people, but what is greatly wanted is 
something to thoroughly arouse it into vigorous 
life, and maintain it as a uniform force in the 
world of politics, through the agency of systematic 
instruction in our public schools. 

A modern writer* has declared that " while en- 
thusiasm is a good thing, it requires organization 
to make it effective." This sententious statement 
is particularly true of patriotism. If we would 
make this virtue a vital force, we must organize 
and systematize the methods by means of which it 

for a minute that he would stand by and calmly see that emblem of 
freedom torn down? 

No!!! the very thought rouses his ire! And as he enters school he 
remembers the words of the poet — 

" Forever float that standard sheet ! 

Where breathes the foe but falls before us ? 
Wit* 1 Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us." 

And as he thinks of these words, he vows, with one all-concentrating 
and all-hallowing vow, that, Almighty God helping him, he will never, 
never, NEVER see the flag dishonored. 

And every one of us from the utmost depths of his soul, echoes — 
"AMEN'" Louis V. Fox, 

Grammar School No. 63. 

April 1st, 1890. 

* Theodore Roosevelt. 



81 

is aroused and stimulated ; developing it in depth, 
and strength by the aid of all those well-defined 
principles, methods, and appliances which we find 
it indispensable to call to our aid when we seek to 
attain to excellence in any department of human 
knowledge. 

Formal Adoption of the Signal Flag by the School. 

When, therefore, it becomes clearly evident that 
the sentiment of patriotism has permeated the 
whole school, and unmistakably manifests itself as 
an ever-present, animating impulse in all its public 
exercises, then let the Principal proceed to test the 
strength of the sentiment and the intensity of this 
force, by ascertaining how many of the teachers 
and scholars are so thoroughly loyal to the public 
school, and next to God, so love their country, that 
they are ready to prove their loyalty and love by a 
public act and acknowledgment. 

It is for the good judgment and sagacity of the 
Principal to determine when this auspicious time 
in the history of his school has arrived, and public 
opinion appears ripe to demand that a Signal Flag 
shall be displayed upon the school-house, or on the 
adjacent grounds. This question settled in his 
mind, let him announce at the next morning exer- 
cise that on a day named, one month thereafter, the 
vote of the school will be taken by ballot on the 
question whether the school, will adopt a Signal 
Flag. He should lay stress on the point that in 
order that the flag may be a truthful expression of 



82 

the sentiment of the school taken as a body, as a 
unit, there should be a unanimous vote in favor of 
the plan ; and to the end that all concerned may 
have an ample opportunity to decide just where 
they stand on the question — whether for or against 
the measure — a month's time is given before the 
school will be called upon to make its decision. 

He should explain that the first step is to ascer- 
tain whether the whole school is loyal to the nag 
and all it represents ; the second, to procure the 
flag. 

I would suggest that if practicable, this announce- 
ment be so timed as to afford ample opportunity 
for a decision to be reached, and the flag and the 
appliances for raising it procured, so as to display 
it for the first time on some national or state holi- 
day ; as, for instance, on Washington's birthday ; 
on Memorial Day ; on Independence Day ; on a 
general election day,* or on Thanksgiving Day. 
A month would not be too much time to allow for 
procuring a flag, staff, etc., so that the announce- 
ment referred to, should be made at least two 
months prior to the holiday on which it is proposed 
to dedicate the flag. 

The day for the election having been determined 
upon, there should be posted on the school bulletin- 
board, a notice over the official signature of the 
Principal, stating the object of the election, the 
place, day and hour at which it will be held, the 
holiday on which it is proposed to dedicate the flag, 

* Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November of each year. 



83 

and the day upon which the names of the Judges of 
Election will be announced. The following would 
be the form : 

NOTICE. 

Boys' Department, 

Grammar School No. 77, 
New York, December 15, 1889. 
An Election, to determine whether this school 
shall, from and after the 2 2d day of February next, 
display from a flag-staff in front of this school 
building, A Signal Flag, as a. sign of the loyalty 
of the school to American principles and American 
institutions, will be held in the Assembly Hall, on 
Wednesday afternoon, January 15th, 1890, at 3:15 
o'clock p. m. The names of the Judges of Election 
will be announced on the 6th of January next. 

Edward A. Page, 

Principal. 

It is prudent to postpone the appointment of the 
Judges until a short time before the election is to 
take place, to avoid any delay which might arise 
from any of those selected being unable to serve by 
reason of sickness, business engagements, etc. 

Immediately upon the announcement of the 
Judges, they will at once proceed to organize for the 
election as has already been explained in connection 
with the election of a school color-bearer.* 

The object of the election should appear as an 
indorsement on the ballot when folded, and might 

* Pages 49, 50. 



84 

read thus, " Shall this School display a Signal 
Flag ? " All those in favor of the proposition 
will write on the inside face of the ballot, the word 
Yes; those opposed to the proposition, the word No. 
The indorsement on the ballot, as noted above, 
should, if possible, be printed. 

Upon a question of this importance there should 
be but one response from every one connected with 
the school ; the Principal should never permit the 
flag to be displayed until the entire body of teachers 
and scholars are unanimously in its favor. Should 
the voting fail to be unanimous, the whole matter 
might be laid over for another month, or for such 
time as the Principal may think advisable, to enable 
the more loyal Americans to persuade and convince 
their opponents. 

Assuming, however, that the vote proves unani- 
mous, and after it has been duly announced to the 
assembled school, at the morning exercise, following 
the day of the election, the next step in order is to 
select a flag of suitable material and size and 
obtain it. 

Flags for this purpose should be of the very best 
quality of bunting ; of a size adapted to the nu- 
merical importance of the school, to the advantages 
for properly displaying it, to the position the staff 
is to occupy, and to the latter's size and height. 

As the ensigns used by the Army and the Navy 
are the standards for the Government, and as the 
flags adopted by the two services for the same 
general purposes, differ somewhat from each other 



85 



in dimensions and proportion of parts, for the infor- 
mation of those who desire to select that size most 
suitable for their needs, I present herewith tables of 
the designations and dimensions of all ensigns used 
in the two services for outside display. 

DESCRIPTION AND DIMENSIONS OF ENSIGNS USED IN 
THE UNITED STATES ARMY.* 



Designation of the 
Flag. 



Garrison or National 
Flag 

Post Flag 

Storm or Recruiting 
Flag 



Dimensions of 



Whole Flag. 



Hoist. 



Hun- 
Feet- dredths 



OO 
OO 

16 



Fly. 



Feet. 



Hun- 
dredths 



OO 
OO 



The Union. 



Hoist. 



Feet. 



Hun- 
dredths 



40 



24 



My. 



Hun- 
Feet, dredths 



66 



* Regulations of the Army, edition of 1889, pp. 210, 211; Sees. 1845,, 
1846, 1847. 

SPECIFICATIONS FOR GARRISON FLAGS. 

To be made of bunting, thirty-six (36) feet fly, and twenty (20) feet' 
hoist; thirteen horizontal stripes of equal breadth, alternately red and 
white, beginning with the red. In the upper quarter next the staff is 
the "union," composed of a number of white stars equal to the num- 
ber of States in the Union (each star measuring ten (10) inches between 
the farthest points, arranged in five (5) rows parallel to the larger edges 
of the flag), on a blue field, one-third the length of the flag, and extend- 
ing to the lower edge of the fourth (4) red stripe from the top. The 
heading to be of stout eight (8) ounce cotton duck, seven (7) inches 
wide, doubled to the flag, making it three and a half (3%) inches 
wide when completed, and having a piece of stout two (2) inch web- 
bing through it, extending the whole width of the flag. 

To have on each corner of flag at heading a triangular stay-piece of 
bunting, the horizontal side of which is twelve (12) inches, the vertical 
side ten (10) inches. A galvanized iron staple and ring, at each end of. 



86 

The following table, compiled from the official 
records of the U. S. Navy Department, embraces 

flag heading, fastened with five (5) copper rivets. The lower edge or 
bottom of fly to be turned in three thicknesses, with three (3) rows of 
.sewing on it to strengthen the flag. 

Adopted May 31, 1876. M. C. Meigs, 

Quartermaster-General, 

Bvt. Major-General, U. S. A. 



SPECIFICATIONS FOR POST FLAGS. 

The same as Garrison Flags in every respect, all the parts being pro- 
portionately smaller, and to be of the following dimensions, viz. : 
Twenty (20) feet fly, and ten (10) feet hoist, stars six (6) inches between 
iarthest points, stay-pieces eight (8) by ten (10) inches and heading 
.three (3) inches wide when completed. 

Adopted May 31, 1876. M. C. Meigs, 

Quartermaster- General, 

Bvt. Major-General, U. S. A. 



SPECIFICATIONS FOR STORM AND RECRUITING FLAGS. 

The dimensions of the flag to be eight (8) feet fly, and four (4) feet two 
'{2) inches hoist. To be made of bunting, and to have thirteen (13) hori- 
zontal stripes of equal width, alternately red and white, beginning with 
the red. The "union " in the upper quarter next the head, to consist 
•of a blue field, displaying a number of white stars equal to the number 
of States in the Union, arranged in five (5) rows, parallel to the stripes. 
.'Size of stars three and one-quarter (3^) inches between the opposite 
points. Size of the "union " one-third (%) the length of the flag, and 
to extend to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe from top. The 
heading to be of stout eight (8) ounce cotton duck, four (4) inches wide, 
doubled to the flag, making it two (2) inches wide when completed, and 
to have a piece of stout one and a half nj^) inch webbing through it 
extending the whole width of the flag. A galvanized iron staple and 
ring at each end of the flag heading, fastened with three copper rivets. 
To have on each corner of the flag, at heading, a triangular stay-piece 
of bunting, the horizontal side of which shall be seven (7) inches, and 
the vertical side five (5) inches. The lower edge or bottom of fly to be 
turned in three (3) thicknesses, with three (3) rows of sewing on it to 
^strengthen the flag. 



Adopted December 31, 1877. 



Stewart Van Vliet, 
Acting Quartermaster- General, 

Bvt. Major-General, U. S. A. 



87 



not only the dimensions of the ensigns, bnt also 
those of the pennants in use on our men-of-war. 

DESCRIPTION AND DIMENSIONS OF ENSIGNS AND PEN- 
NANTS USED IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY.* 





Ensigns. 


Narrow Pennants. 


£ 


Whole 
Hoist. 


Flag. 

Fly. 


The Union. 


Whole Flag. 


TheUnion 


Hoist. 


Fly. 


Hoist. 


Fly. 


Lengths. 


N 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


Ft. 


Hun. 


I 


r 9 


oo 


36 


00 


10 


20 


14 


40 





52 


70 


00 


17 


50 


2 


14 


35 


27 


19 


7 


73 


10 


88 





42 


40 


00 


10 


00 


3 


12 


19 


23 


10 


6 


56 


9 


24 





35 


25 


00 


6 


25 


4 


8 


94 


16 


94 


4 


81 


6 


77 





30 


20 


oon 


5 


00 


5 


5 


14 


9 


75s 


2 


76 


3 


90 





25 


9 


oon 


2 


25 


6 


3 


52 


6 


67b 


1 


go 


2 


67 





21 


6 


00b 


1 


50 


7 


2 


90 


5 


50b 


1 


60 


2 


20 














8 


2 


37 


4 


50b 


1 


28 


1 


80 















* As taken from " Allotvances of Articles under cognizance of the Bureau 
of Navigation for vessels of the U. S. Navy" 1882, Appendix A, pp.46, 47. 

NOTES. 

" Ensigns will have thirteen horizontal stripes of equal breadth, alter- 
nately red and white, beginning with the red. In the upper quarter, 
next to the head, is the union, composed of a number of white stars 
equal to the number of States, on a blue field, four-tenths the entire 
length of the flag, extending as far down as the lower edge of the fourth 
red stripe from the top. The whole depth or hoist of the ensign will 
be ten-nineteenths of its whole length or fly. 

" Seams of Storm Flags to be double width and triple stitched. 

' " Narrow P 'ennants will have the Union part composed of thirteen 
white stars in a horizontal line, on a blue field one-fourth the length of 
the pennant; the remaining three-fourths of its length to be composed 
of a red and a white stripe, of equal breadth at any part of the taper, with 
the red uppermost. The number of stars in the night and boat pen- 
nants will be limited to seven." — Allowances of Articles, etc., 1882, p. 47. 



88 



Cost of Flags. 

As the cost of the flag will always be an import- 
ant question when the time for selection arrives, I 
give herewith a table of approximate prices charged 
by the trade in this city, for not only the sizes used 
by the Army and Navy, but for certain intermediate 
ones supplied by the trade. The prices set oppo- 
site the Army sizes in brackets are just what each 
size costs the Government to make. It is assumed 
that in all cases the best quality of bunting is used. 

TABLE OF APPROXIMATE PRICES OF AMERICAN ENSIGNS. 





Dimensions. 




Description. 


Hoist or 
Width. 


Fly or 
Length. 


Prices. 




Feet. 


Hun- 
dredths 


Feet. 


Hun- 
dredths 




Ensigns. 

Army — Garrison Flag. . . . 
Trade — Intermediate size. 

Trade — Intermediate size. 

tt a *< 

Trade — Intermediate size. 

Navy — Size No. 4 

Trade — Intermediate size. 

Army — Storm Flag 

Trade — Intermediate size. 

Trade — Intermediate size. 
Navy — Size No. 8 


20 
19 
19 
17 
17 
14 
14 
13 
12 
10 
8 
8 

7 
6 

5 
5 
4 
4 
3 
3 
3 
2 
2 


00 
50 
00 
00 
00 
83 
35 
17 
19 
00 

94 
50 
42 
25 
25 
14 
16 
16 
52 
16 
16 
90 
37 


36 
36 
36 
32 
30 
28 
27 
25 
23 
20 
16 
16 
14 
12 
10 

9 

8 

7 
6 
6 

5 
5 
4 


00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 

19 
00 
10 
00 

94 
00 
00 
00 
00 

75 
00 
00 
67 
00 
00 
50 
50 


$60 00 [$20 50]* 
62 00 
55 00 
55 00 
50 00 
43 00 
35 00 
32 00 
22 00 

22 00 [9 95]* 
18 00 
18 00 
13 00 
10 00 
9 00 

6 75 

5 50 [2 80]* 

5 00 

4 00 

4 00 

3 50 

3 25 

3 00 



* G. O. 52, Headquarters of the Army, Washington, June 18, li 



89 

The dimensions of the pennants are given in the 
Navy table, because there may be schools where 
the nag-staff is very favorably situated, not only for 
their display, but where the scholars may be able 
to command the means of procuring a pennant. 
Hoisted just above the nag they have a very grace- 
ful effect, and their use would be very proper and 
appropriate on national holidays and other gala 
occasions. 

Locating the Flag-Staff. 

In the solidly-built portions of this city, where the 
school-houses are from four to five stories high, and 
are in most instances surrounded by buildings of 
corresponding height, a flag-staff, even if placed on 
the roof, can be seen to advantage only from the 
immediate neighborhood. The serious objections to 
locating the staff on the roof — unless special pro- 
visions were made for its use at the time the building 
was erected — which have been noticed already,* have 
led to the adoption of the plan of projecting a short, 
stout staff, from the front of the building directly 
over the main entrance ; the inner end being sup- 
ported and secured by what is known as a " holder," 
made of malleable iron, so adjusted to the window- 
sill or other point of support, that when in its 
normal position, it makes an angle of from twenty 
to forty degrees with a horizontal line. The hal- 
yards are conveniently reached from the window in 
front of which the staff projects. By this simple 

Page 62. 



90 

and inexpensive arrangement the flag is well dis- 
played, and becomes a very conspicuous object on 
the street. 

In suburban districts, where the school-house site 
is sufficiently large to afford a yard, either on the 
side or in front of the building, or is so extended in 
its dimensions, that the portion unoccupied by the 
building can be dignified with the title of " grounds," 
the plan of locating the flag-staff in the most access- 
ible and convenient place in the yard or grounds, 
where, while conspicuous, it can be protected from 
injury by lawless passers-by, is greatly to be pre- 
ferred. Such a place is much more easily reached 
by the person to whom is entrusted the duty of 
hoisting and lowering the flag daily, avoids all the 
objections to a roof site, and admits of the flag-staff 
being kept in good order and repair much more 
economically. 

An excellent example of such a favorable position 
as I have described, is that occupied by the flag-staff 
of the College of the City of New York, at the 
corner of Lexington avenue and Twenty-third 
street, in this city ; it is admirably placed at the 
intersection of the two streets, is well-proportioned, 
of just the right height, and the flag can be seen for 
a long distance from four different directions. 

Such schools in the Twelfth, Twenty-third and 
Twenty-fourth Wards of this city as enjoy the ad- 
vantages of comparatively spacious grounds, when 
about to set up a flag-staff, would do well to study the 
position and dimensions of the one at this College. 



91 

How to Procure the Flag, Flag-Staff and Appliances 

Having decided upon the location of the flag-staff,, 
a question upon which its height, size and cost 
necessarily depends, and having selected a suitable 
flag from among those described in the foregoing 
lists, the school will now be prepared to make an 
estimate of the cost of the whole outfit, including 
that of setting up the staff in place ready for use. 

As a matter of instruction and training in taking- 
responsibilities and transacting mercantile business, 
the execution of these details should be delegated 
to a committee of those scholars who exhibit the 
greatest aptitude for business matters, and who have 
shown the greatest interest in the whole under- 
taking. As the Principal must necessarily be more 
familiar with the character and acquirements of 
each of the scholars than the scholars themselves, 
taken as a body, I would suggest that as soon as; 
practicable after the school has formally decided to 
adopt a Signal Flag, that the Principal appoint 
such a committee ; to consist of one teacher — to act 
as Chairman of the committee and guide its 
deliberations — and as many other members as in the 
judgment of the Principal will do the most effective 
work. Say at the rate of not less than one member 
of the committee for every fifty pupils, in schools', 
of five hundred pupils or less ; of one member for 
every seventy-five pupils, in schools having over 
five hundred and under one thousand pupils ; and 
one member for every one hundred pupils, in. 
schools having over one thousand pupils. 



92 

To tliis body should be committed the work : 
i. Of preparing careful estimates of the cost of 
each article composing the Signal Flag outfit, so 
that the total amount of money it will be necessary 
for the school to raise, may be known before any 
expense is incurred. 

2. Of obtaining the amount of money required to 
defray all expenses, by soliciting from the friends 
of the school, subscriptions to its patriotic fund. 

3. Of purchasing on the best terms, all the 
articles required, and of engaging such labor as 
may be necessary to transport the staff to the school 
and set it up in place. 

4. To put the staff in position and finish the work 
in all its details, ready to turn over the completed 
plant to the school in anticipation of the day when 
the ceremony of dedicating the flag shall take 
place. 

As soon as the committee is duly organized by 
the election of a Chairman and a Secretary, the 
teacher-member acting both as Chairman and 
friendly adviser, should appoint three sub-com- 
mittees ; each to be composed of such members of 
the committee as are particularly qualified by their 
acquirements and tastes for the duties they are to 
perform. If, for instance, there are on the general 
committee ten scholars, they can be thus assigned : 

As obtaining the necessary funds, and their 
judicious expenditure is one of the most important 
duties to be performed, a sub-committee, consisting 
of four scholars, chosen by reason of their superior 



93 

knowledge of monetary arithmetic, of book-keeping 
and accounts, as also for their probity, high char- 
acter and pleasing address, should be associated 
with the Chairman (thus giving the odd number 
necessary) , to be known as the Sub-Committee on 
Finance. To this sub-committee should be assigned 
the work of making the estimate of funds required ; 
of raising the desired amount through personal 
solicitation, and with the assistance of friends ; and 
of ultimately accounting to the whole committee 
for all moneys which may have come into its 
possession. 

Another sub-committee of three scholars should 
select and purchase everything needed ; its members 
should be chosen from those who evince a correct 
taste in colors, some knowledge of the quality of 
fabrics, capacity to distinguish good sewing from 
poor sewing to enable them to select the best-made 
flag, the colors of which shall not " run," and which 
will wear well.* They should understand something 
about the different kinds and quality of the woods 
most suitable for a flag-staff, and should have the 

* The best bunting made is the "American Standard." Bunting 
should be tested : I. For its strength of yarn ; a strip one inch wide 
should sustain a tensile strain of 30 lbs. without tearing apart. 2. For 
its lightness per square yard and its flexibility ; if there is any cotton in 
the yarn the fabric will be heavier than if of pure wool, stiffer, and will 
not float out handsomely on the wind. 3. The colors should be fast, and 
neither fade nor run when wet. This can be tested by soaking a sample 
in both fresh and salt water, and then drying in the sun. The blue of 
the union should be indigo dyed. 4. Every part of the flag should be 
hand-sewed ; a machine-sewed flag will only wear about one-half as long 
as a hand-sewed one, and owing to the hardness of the seams does not 
float so gracefully. 



94 

commercial spirit, the aptitude for making bargains.. 
The boy who is always ready to sell or " swap " his. 
jack-knife should be on this committee. To this 
trio will be assigned the duty of purchasing the 
flag, of selecting a staff of the proper dimensions 
and material, of making a bargain to have it 
brought to the place where it is to be erected, and 
of having it put in place, and finally, when all the 
necessary purchases are made and the articles duly 
received, to certify to the correctness of all the bills 
for such articles, as a proof for the Sub-Committee 
on Finance, that the bills are correct. This body 
will be known as the Sub-Committee on Supplies. 

Lastly, we need a third body, to be known as the 
" Sub-Committee on Construction." Its members 
should evince a taste for and possess some knowl- 
edge of carpentry and the principles of mechanics ; 
they should know something about ropes, blocks 
and falls and sailors' work. To this committee 
should be entrusted the duty of overseeing the work 
of setting up the staff, so that it shall be properly 
placed and perfectly secured ; of painting the staff; 
of rigging the halyards and of completing the plant, 
so that it will be in perfect order when the general 
committee are ready to bring their stewardship to a 
close and make their final report to the school. 

I sketch these duties in the natural order in 
which they will present themselves, merely to show 
how patriotic education can be woven, as it were, 
into the daily life of the pupil, and made a part of 
his daily growth in knowledge ; and that no matter 



95 

what may be his natural gifts, his acquirements or 
his tastes, they can all be utilized in such a method 
of training. 

When everything is completed and in readiness 
for use, the Sub-Committee on Finance should 
report in writing to the whole committee, giving a 
list of the persons who subscribed to the patriotic 
fund, with the amount of each subscription, thus 
showing just where the money came from. This 
should be accompanied by a list of all expenditures, 
giving the date of each payment, name of the per- 
son to whom the money was paid, the nature of the 
payment and its amount ; each of these statements 
being supported by the receipted bill of the person 
from whom the purchase was made. In other words, a 
regular debit and credit account should be rendered. 

In the same spirit the sub-committees on supplies 
and on construction will make written reports, each 
giving a brief history of what they have done. 

Based upon these sub-reports, the general com- 
mittee should make to the Principal, for the infor- 
mation of the school, a report in writing of all that 
it has done to execute his wishes, and as the duty 
for which it was appointed has been accomplished, 
to ask to be honorably discharged. 

Bvery thing being completed and the Signal Flag 
outfit being now ready to be placed in the possession 
of the school as a body, the next step in order is 
the selection of a custodian for the flag, who shall 
carry out the wishes of the school respecting its 
daily display. 



96 

Custodianship of the Flag. 

In defining the symbolism of the School Flag, I 
stated that it stood for the whole body of children 
under instruction — for the school regarded as a 
unit ; while the office of the Signal Flag was to 
stand as a sign and a pledge of the thorough loyalty 
of the whole school to American principles and 
institutions. Both flags, therefore, symbolize the 
same spirit, namely, the loyalty of the school to 
America ; and hence, it is eminently fitting and 
proper that those scholars who have been chosen by 
the school to officially represent it, should be of all 
others, the ones to care for and to display this flag. 

For this reason, therefore, I would recommend 
that the custodianship of the Signal Flag and the 
duty of properly displaying it at certain stated 
times, as will be explained presently, be committed 
to the school standard-bearer and his associates. 

Dedication of the Flag. 

The flag-staff being in place, the flag ready to 
hoist, and all required preparations completed, the 
formal turning over of the flag and its appurte- 
nances to the school, through its Principal, by the 
committee charged with the duty of procuring the 
flag and setting up the flag-staff, and the formal 
dedication of the flag to the service indicated by its 
name, is the next event in order ; and should be 
made the occasion of an impressive ceremony be- 
fitting the exceptional character of the act to be 
performed. 



97 

It is unnecessary to dwell at any length on the 
details of such a ceremony, which, in the hands of 
an earnest and patriotic body of teachers and pupils, 
filled with the enthusiasm born of a noble cause, 
can be made an event long to be remembered by 
every participant. I will, however, remind you of 
three important points which should not be over- 
looked in arranging the programme of exercises, 
namely : i. To see to it that the parents of every 
scholar receive a formal invitation to attend, and if 
possible are present, since the proceedings will be 
as instructive and interesting to them as to their 
children ; 2. That the programme is short, and the 
exercises spirited and soul-stirring ; and 3. That 
the music and songs chosen and the addresses 
delivered, are such as shall stamp indelibly on the 
hearts of all present, the real meaning and signifi- 
cance of the occasion.* 

* An event of so much political importance, by reason of its educa- 
ting influence (using the v^orA political m its highest sense), occurring as 
such opportunities do, but rarely, should not be permitted by the 
school authorities to pass, without every effort being made in the way 
of judicious management and efficient organization . to render it a great 
success as a public object lesson in patriotism. A few hints, therefore, 
touching such management and the details of the ceremony may not be 
out of place in a work of this character. I would suggest as a prelim- 
inary step to success, the organization of a general committee of arrange- 
ment, composed of the Principal and all the teachers in the school, and 
an equal number of citizens selected from among those whose children 
attend the school, who should take immediate charge of the affair. As 
soon as organized, this body should appoint as many sub-committees as 
are necessary to perfect and carry out every detail of the work to be 
done. There should be a sub-committee on finance, another on invita- 
tions, another on the order of exercises, another to select an orator, 
and one for each group of duties or line of work which needs careful 
attention and planning. 

If the dedication is to take place in May, July or early November, . 



98 

The Flag used as a Signal to indicate that the 
School is in Session. 

For many years it has been the cnstom for Con- 
gress, when sitting as the official representatives of 
the people, to have the national ensign raised over 
the two wings of the Capitol, occnpied respectively 
by the Senate Chamber and the Hall of the House 
of Representatives, at the hour appointed for going 
into session, and of having it duly lowered at the 
hour of adjournment. 

Following so appropriate an example — for the 
public school in all our cities, but particularly in the 
City of New York, with its mixture of children of 
all races, religions, creeds and social conditions, is, 
like our national legislature, a representative body — 
the flag should be displayed from the flag-staff on 

and the state of the weather will permit, the exercises should be held out 
of doors; particularly if the flag-staff is set up in the grounds adjacent 
-to the school-house. If the ceremony takes place in February, late 
November, or during the more inclement season of the year, provision 
must be made for it within the school-house. 

In the case of an out-of-door celebration, a platform should be erected 
sufficiently large to accommodate such officers of the committee as are 
to take part in the exercises and a few special guests, and be so placed 
that at the proper time the flag can be hoisted by a person standing 
upon it. 

The school should be assembled in the school-house, each scholar 
wearing the national colors in such manner and form as shall have been 
designated by the committee. At the proper time they will march, 
under the direction of their teachers, to the place set apart for them; 
the "best" boy or girl in each class carrying the " Scholar's Flag," the 
best class preceded by its color-bearer with the " Class Flag," and the 
whole school led by the school standard-bearer and his guard with the 
"School Flag." The School Flag should have a conspicuous place on 
the platform. The place of assemblage should be so arranged that the 



99 

the school-house, or on the adjacent grounds, from 
the hour when school commences (usually 9 A. M.) 
and be lowered at the hour of closing the school ; 
its presence at the flag-staff head denoting that the 
school is in session, and its absence, that school has 
been dismissed. In stormy weather, as is the cus- 
tom in military garrisons, a smaller and less expen- 
sive flag should replace the larger one ordinarily 
used,* so that be the weather what it may, fair or 
foul, the flag should always dominate the school 
during school hours. 

You will observe that in thus recommending the 
use of our national ensign as a signal, I use the 
latter word in its most general and broadest sense 
or meaning, namely, of a sign or an indication 
simply, and not in its more restricted and purely 

school when seated will be surrounded by the parents and friends of 
the scholars. The audience being collected, the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements should state in a few words the object of the 
meeting. After prayer has been offered, the next thing in order will 
be for the scholars' committee charged with procuring the flag, staff, 
etc., by its Chairman, to present its report and have it read, and by 
this act to formally turn over to the Principal of the school the'flag and 
its appurtenances. Thereupon the Principal should make a suitable 
reply; after which, taking the Signal Flag and handing it to the school 
color-bearer, he will, in the name of the school, direct him to display 
it. When the flag reaches the staff-head, it should be vigorously 
cheered by the whole audience, led by the presiding officer. After 
singing a patriotic hymn, the formal address by the orator of the day 
will be in order, followed by singing ; short, ringing addresses by 
friends, and the closing exercises. 

* For flag-staffs on which in fair weather the Army Post flag is an 
appropriate size to be used, I would recommend for foul weather use 
the Army Storm flag. For smaller staffs on which in fair weather flags 
like Navy No. 5, or Army Storm, is suitable; for foul weather, Navy No. 
7 or Navy No. 8 will do very well. 



100 

technical sense of a semaphore ; in which sense the 
flag as a signal becomes merely a part of a system 
of mechanism for conveying, not a single idea only, 
but a number of ideas ; in fact forms one of a series 
of characters in an arbitrary sign language.* 

Bearing in mind the higher symbolism with 

* Since the delivery of this address, this use of the flag has been 
introduced into the daily exercises of at least one school, as it is under- 
stood, with great success, so far as the special purpose for which it was 
employed has been accomplished. I present herewith for the informa- 
tion of teachers a circular explaining this special use of the flag in Mr. 
C. E. Franklin's school in Albany, N. Y. It is addressed to the parents 
of the pupils attending the school : 

Albany, N. Y., (Public) School No. 7, ) 
October 7, 1889. ) 

Dear Sir — Beginning the fore part of this week there will be put in 
operation a system of semaphores or signals whereby the surrounding 
neighborhood can daily observe the exact hour of the opening and clos- 
ing the school doors. 

For this purpose at 8:40 A. M. each day, an all-white flag will be raised 
on a flag-staff now being erected on the building. This will mean that 
the doors are open, the teachers present, and the children should start 
for school. 

At five minutes of nine this will be changed for an all-red flag, a sig- 
nal of warning to all loiterers that they have but five minutes to get to 
school, and must hurry. 

At nine o'clock, the moment the doors are closed, the red flag will 
give way to the American flag, which will indicate the closing of the 
doors, that school has begun, and all who may not yet be in school are 
late and must retu n home. 

At 11: 30 A. M. the pole will be stripped, and so remain until 12:15 
p. M., when the white flag will go up again, the red at 1: 10, and the 
American at 1: 15. 

When in inclement weather but one session is held, according to the 
new rules of the Board, the American flag will not be lowered at 11: 30 
A. M., but remain flying until the scholars are dismissed at 1: 15 P. M. 

These flags will fly sufficiently high to be seen in nearly all streets 
from which pupils attend No. 7. 

The advantages hoped to be derived from this system are as follows: 

I. Decrease of tardiness and half-day absences. 1. Because, no mat- 



101 

which I have sought to invest the flag, in treating 
of this branch of my subject — in regarding its 
public display as a signal, as the mark of the loyalty 
of the school over which it floats, to American polit- 
ical principles ; it seems to me as derogating from, 
and indeed quite destructive of this symbolic char- 
ter if your clock is stopped or differs from ours, these flags will guide 
you. 2. Their novelty will attract children, where warnings and clocks 
would not. 

II. Parents will be able to determine whether their children get here 
on time, or whether they are late, and so knowing when they are locked 
out, when to expect them home again. 

III. It will prevent parents sending little ones late in cold weather 
when uncertain whether tardy or not, and thus preserve many of them 
from a fruitless cold walk. 

These signals will be somewhat of an expense, of which I propose to 
bear the major part — if necessary, all of it. Still, if any parents think it 
reasonable to allow the children to contribute, not to exceed five cents, 
I would be pleased. However, understand no one is obliged or expected 'to 
contribute. I think I have made that sufficiently clear to the children. 

Respectfully, 

C. E. Franklin, 

Principal. 

The following code of signals accompanied the circular: 
SCHOOL No. 7.— CODE OF SIGNALS. 

MORNING. 

8:40 A. M. — White Flag — Doors Open — Start for School. 

8: 55 A. M. — Red Flag — " Hurry up" — Five Minutes of Nine. 

9 o'clock — American Flag — Doors Closed — School's Begun. 

AFTERNOON. 
12: 55 P. M. — White Flag — Doors Open — Start for School. 
1: 10 p. M. — Red Flag — First Bell has Rung. 
1:15 P. M. — American Flag — Doors Closed — School's Begun. 
Compliments of 

C. E. Franklin, 

Principal. 

Whatever the effect of this system of signals has been on the punc- 
tuality of the scholars, the impression produced on the boys living in 
the neighborhood, as appears from the following statement, has been 



102 

acter thus to degrade it — if I may use such an 
expression — to the office of a mere mechanical 
device, for which any piece of colored bunting would 
answer precisely as well. 

No two opinions of the same material object 
could appear to be more diverse or more opposed to 
each other, than the view of the flag taken by Mr. 
Beecher in his splendid apostrophe to it, pronounced 
in 1861, which I have chosen as the key-note and 
inspiration of this portion of my subject, and that 
which regards it merely as a convenient and strik- 
ing element in a mechanical device for conveying 
intelligence. 

The one use contributes to ennoble the object, 

not only to stimulate their patriotism, but to illustrate the truth of the 
adage, that "imitation is the sincerest flattery." 

INFECTIOUS PATRIOTISM. 

(From the Albany Express.) 
The system of indicating the beginning and close of school sessions 
by hoisting and lowering the American flag, which was instituted by 
Professor Franklin, of School No. 7, has spurred a number of Orange 
street urchins on to imitation. Not long ago a youngster living on that 
thoroughfare went out into the back yard early one morning armed with 
a spade and a long pole. With the former he dug a hole in the ground, 
in which he placed the latter, and firmly fixed it there. Then he rigged 
a sort of rope and pulley to the pole and hoisted a " sort of a kind of" 
an American flag. This he lowered every evening and hoisted every 
morning with great regularity and much evident satisfaction. The 
small boy who lives next door soon looked over the fence and saw what 
his youthful neighbor had been doing; and forthwith he became seized 
with a desire to do likewise. He did likewise, and very soon two flags 
in adjoining yards were hoisted and lowered with great regularity every 
day. Then other boys who lived thereabouts saw the flags, and now 
there are at least eight or nine alleged American flags fluttering from 
as many poles in as many back yards. All are hoisted in the morning 
and lowered at evening. 



103 

the other tends rather to degrade it ; the first view- 
appeals to the higher and spiritual nature of the 
child, the last to the lower and sensuous side of 
that nature. The advantages claimed for the sys- 
tem of signals in which the national ensign forms 
but a single component part, namely, decrease of 
tardiness and half-day absences, can be secured as I 
am quite confident, and as experience in this city 
has sufficiently proved, by the use of a system of 
suitable rewards. Whatever may be the plan fol- 
lowed, however, let us by all means seek to adopt 
such an one as will elevate the child's mind, and by 
exciting the nobler emotions, lead its thoughts up- 
ward to a higher sphere than that in which they 
ordinarily dwell ; rather than appeal to that selfish 
and materialistic element in its character, which its 
daily contact with the rough and hard side of life, 
may be trusted to foster and develop only too welh 

Duties of the School Standard-bearer. 

By the plan which has been sketched, the Class 
Flag will be ordinarily the only one used and 
saluted by the assembled school at the morning 
exercise. But once each week, namely, on Patriot's 
Day, and at the exercises held in honor of any 
national or other legal holiday, or upon any other 
special occasion, the standard of the school will 
replace it. It follows from this, that, as a usual 
thing, the school color-bearer and his guard will 
have no duty to perform in connection with the 
usual morning exercises, for four mornings in the 



104 

week, and can therefore very conveniently discharge 
those connected with raising the Signal Flag, to 
mark that the school is in session. The duty of 
displaying the flag at morning colors, and of strik- 
ing it at evening colors, will be executed in the fol- 
lowing manner : 

Fifteen minutes before the hour for opening the 
school, namely, at 8:45 A. m., the school standard- 
bearer and his guard will assemble at the Principal's 
office, or other place of depository of the flags, and 
after selecting the one to be used for the day, accord- 
ing to the state of the weather, will march in a 
body by twos, in an orderly manner, the color- 
bearer — carrying the colors — leading, to the foot of 
the flag-staff, if in the yard or grounds, or to such 
other place as the flag is to be raised from. 

Arrived at the spot, the flag will be properly 
unrolled and attached to the halyards with the 
assistance of the guard. All being in readiness, at 
precisely 8:55 A. M. the colors will be hoisted to the 
staff-head by the color-bearer, and the halyards 
secured to the cleats.* This done, he will give the 
order, " Salute the flag I " Whereupon he, his 
guard and all scholars who may be present, will 
face towards the colors and salute them ; the boys 
uncovering the head by taking off their hat or cap 
for an instant, the girls by a respectful and graceful 
bending of the head and upper part of the body. 

* Principals who are not familiar with handling and knotting ropes, 
should procure the services of a sailor or rigger to teach the color- 
bearer how to attach the flag to the halyards, and how to belay. 



105 

If the act of raising and hauling down the 
national colors on all men-of-war in the United 
States Navy, is of so much moment as to be consid- 
ered worthy of an official order from the Cabinet 
officer at the head of the Navy Department, pre- 
scribing the manner in which that ceremony shall 
be performed, it appears to me that there is no better 
place to teach that respect for the nation's flag 
which the order of Secretary Tracy — to which refer- 
ence has already been made — inculcates, than in the 
conduct of the same ceremony by the children of 
this nation in the public school. 

This act of respect performed, the guard will 
quietly re-form, and, the color-bearer leading, will 
return to the main hall, from whence each member 
will proceed to join his class* in time for the general 
assembly of the school at 9 A. m. 

As the recess from 12 M. to 1 p. m., or at the 
noonday hour, whatever that may be, is not a final 
closing of the school exercises for the day, the flag 
should not be lowered at noon. To do so and to 
rehoist it at the hour of assembly in the afternoon, 
would not only be very inconvenient for the color 
guard — depriving them of from ten to fifteen min- 
utes of their recess, but would in my estimation 
greatly detract from the impressiveness of the 
whole ceremony. The flag should remain at the 
flag-staff head undisturbed, during the entire official 
school-day. 

Five minutes before the hour for dismissing the 
school, the color-bearer and the guard should be 



106 

permitted to leave their respective classes, in order 
to assemble in the main hall, for the purpose of 
striking the colors. The guard will proceed from 
the hall to the foot of the flag-staff in the same 
order they did in the morning, and will detach the 
halyards from the cleats and free the flag if neces- 
sary, ready for hauling down. Two minutes after 
the dismissal of the school, or as soon as the great 
body of children is outside the building, the flag 
will be lowered by the«color-bearer ; as it reaches the 
ground, he will command salute the flag! at which 
order the guard and all scholars present will face 
towards the flag and salute it, as was done in the 
morning, thus formally marking the close of the 
school-day. 

The guard will then carefully fold and roll up> 
the flag, and carry it to the place of deposit for the 
night. If it is wet, it should be spread out to dry 
in a suitable place in the building, in the care of the 
Janitor. 

The school standard-bearer should understand 
that upon him rests the responsibility of raising 
and lowering the flag at the precise time appointed, 
no matter what may be the state of the weather, and 
that the whole school, by whose suffrages he has 
been chosen, will hold him accountable for the 
fidelity with which the duties of the trust so im- 
posed, are fulfilled. 

In view of this responsibility, it would appear 
quite proper for this officer to make to the Principal, 
at stated times, for the information of the school, a 
report of the manner in which his own duties and 



107 

those of the guard have been performed. The keep- 
ing of the necessary data or memoranda upon which 
such a report is based, and the preparation of the 
report itself, will be an admirable lesson in exact- 
itude of expression, systematic method, and accurate 
observation, all of which are essential elements in a 
business training. This report will, in fact, be an 
accurate chronological history of the school's Signal 
Flag, and as such should be preserved among its 
archives, in addition to a copy being exposed upon 
the notice-board for the information of the school. 

The report should be made out on a printed form. 

I present the following as a suggestion of what it 
should be : 

Report of the School Standard-Bearer of the Boys' 

Department of Grammar School No. 77, New 

York City, for the school week ending 

June 7, i88gf 

Personnel of j Standard-Bearer Charles Brown. 

THE Guard. \ Color Guard .J. Smith,L. Roberts, Peter Quinn, 

T. Pope, J as. Frazer, S. Cohen. 



Present and Absent. 

Monday A. M. All present at 8:45 A. m. p. m. Quinn absent, sick. 

Tuesday A.M. " " but Jas. Frazer. P. M. All present. 

Wednesday A.M. " " " P.M. " " 

Thursday A. M. T. Pope absent, sick. p. M. T. Pope absent, sick. 

Friday A. M. All present; S. Cohen three 

minutes late. p. M. All present. 

Service Performed — State of the Weather. 
Monday. Large flag up all day — fair and dry. 

Tuesday. Large flag up until 1 p. m., when heavy storm came up. 

Storm flag put up at 1:15 P.M. 

* The matter in italics indicates the part to be written by the standard- 
bearer. 



108 

Wednesday. Storm flag, Navy No. 8, up all day, by order of Principal. 

Heavy gale of wind and rain. 
Thursday. Large storm flag tip all day — weather cloudy and cool. 
Friday. Large flag up all day . Clear and fine weather. 

Remarks. 

fas. Frazer and S. Cohen elected May 30, on the Guard, took office on June 
3, in place of H. Rogers and Thomas Peters, whose terms of office expired. 

J. Smith having resigned, to take effect June 10, J. Halloran was ap- 
pointed by the Principal to fill Smith's unexpired term. 

June 1, " Patriot's Day," the school was presented by La Payette Post, 
G.A.R. No. 140, of the City of New York, with new Signal Flag, "Army 
Post " size, 10 x 20 feet. 

To Respectfully submitted, 

Mr. Edward A . Page, Charles Brown, 

Principal Boys' Department, School Standard-Bearer. 

Grammar School No. 77. 

Three copies of this report should be prepared ; 
one for the archives, one for the notice-board, and 
one to be retained by the standard-bearer. The 
first two copies should be handed to the Principal, 
in a suitable envelope, properly addressed, on Mon- 
day morning at 8:45 A. m. 



Thus far in considering the best methods of teach- 
ing patriotism, I have spoken only of the use of those 
material aids by which we can reach and touch the 
emotional nature of the child, appealing but rarely 
and then only incidentally to its intellectual powers. 
I have pointed out how the symbols of the sov- 
ereignty and power of the nation — its coat-of-arms 
and its flag — can be combined in the form of a 
badge for daily use in every school, and how the 
national ensign in the several forms of the Scholar's 
Flag, the Class Flag, the School and the Signal Flag, 
can be so utilized as to play a most important part 



109 

in the cultivation, in the heart of every pupil, not 
only of the minor virtues of punctuality, order, neat- 
ness, cheerfulness of temper, obedience, truthfulness 
and studiousness, but of those higher and nobler 
traits of character, generosity, integrity, firmness, 
humanity, magnanimity, intrepidity and loyalty, of 
which true patriotism is the sum and crown ; and 
so insensibly to the child, elevate its thoughts and 
gradually lead its mind, through the constant use 
and continuous training of the highest and best 
attributes of its nature, to a profound appreciation 
of what it means to love one's country. 

At the risk of prolixity I have sought to connect 
every special exercise described, and every use of 
the flag suggested, with some sound reason for the 
step, or have endeavored by means of such exercise 
or such use, to illustrate and enforce some great 
political principle, which it is desirable should be 
impressed on the mind of the child, at as early a 
day as possible in its school life. 

I have essayed to do this, not through the medium 
of text-books, but through exercises, which, appeal- 
ing as they do to the imagination and emotions, 
will captivate the pupil, but at the same time con- 
form strictly to the curriculum now in force, and in 
no wise interfere with the daily exercises as now 
arranged. 

With this preface, we are now prepared to study 
that aspect of our subject, in which the mental 
powers are more particularly invoked, and to which 
I have given the title of Intellectual Pa- 
triotism. 















<&m 




